MSL-178 Freerider Gundam

The MSL-178 Freerider Gundam is a testbed prototype mobile suit created by the Earth Federation in order to test out the Minovsky Surf System. Five were commissioned and built, and later stolen and converted into five custom mobile suits by Ride the Wave. It is featured in New World Panic Gundam Freerider.

Technology & Combat Characteristics
By the third century of the Universal Century, constant use of the Minovsky particle has led to its proliferation across the air supply of the Earth, with a significant 8% chunk dedicated to it and its offshoot mutations and variants. The Freerider series, five testbed mobile suits meant to help in the development of the Omega (&omega;) Gundam, was designed to utilize a specialized Minovsky Surf System which would use the particles as a stable wavepoint which would allow objects to obtain high speed flight capabilities regardless of aerodynamics.

The Freerider itself has an extremely movable inner frame, allowing for wide range of movement while still being a solid build. Magnetically coated parts within the rig also allow for tensile strength within the main body, keeping the Freerider from falling apart from a single powerful hit. It also allows use of the AMBAC system to smoothly steer whilst the Surf System is deployed and the unit is going at high speeds. The armor is made of a unique Gundarium material designed specifically for it and its future Omega Gundam, Gundarium &omega; Alloy. The armor carries intrinsic properties within itself, being able to resist physical force applied to it and shrug off beam-based projectiles that may come into contact with it.

The main feature of the Freerider Gundams is the Minovsky Surf System, utilized with a Waverider/Base Jabber-type platform called the M-SURF Boardrider. Vents on the board act to spread out a stream of Minovsky particles along the horizontal plane of the Freerider. By polarizing the closest particles in the atmosphere in the immediate vicinity of the board and creating a constantly-in-flux unstable I-field, the unit can essentially achieve self-sustaining flight by essentially surfing through the air. By creating a magnetic force around the board, the unit can be propelled by the unstable I-field across vast distances at high speeds. Because of the low amount of Minovsky particles that are permanently part of the atmosphere, the unit isn't trapped vertically or horizontally by the I-field, allowing for smooth three dimensional movement. Because of how the Surf System works, a trail of energized particles is left behind that, at the source behind the board, have similar properties to a high intensity beam saber. For the sake of independent use, the Freerider also has a pair of thrusters on its back for traditional propulsion and air nozzles which act to push it in certain directions within low gravity vacuums such as outer space.

A design idea of the original Freerider project that made its way to the five testbed units was the Mobile Track System. Rather than a normal cockpit, the pilot would use their whole body as the controls to the Mobile suit. They would be suspended in the middle of an I-field within the chest cavity of the Freerider and would have their movement match the positioning of the mobile suit with 1-to-1 accuracy. The only things that the pilot would be equipped with are a pair of gloves which allow the pilot the same controls they would have in a regular cockpit and a miniaturized version of the Boardrider which is fully operational. Due to the Nanocompact Minovsky reactor, an entire deck of the chest cavity is mostly hollow, allowing room for the Mobile Track System and a series of optional passenger seats on the sides of system array.

The Freerider comes with a pair of head-mounted 60mm Hipowered Vulcan machine guns and a pair of specialized Extension Beam sabers stored within the elbow armor. Among the Freerider's armaments are a single standard-issue beam rifle, a beam launcher, and a standard physical shield. The Freerider can also mount an experimental folding beam-based I-Field Speed Delivery Rifle (shortened to I-FSDR) onto either side of its back.