ZGMF-X13A Providence Gundam

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This article is about a fictional weapon from the Cosmic Era of the anime Gundam metaseries.

In mid CE 71, ZAFT creates a series of advanced mobile suits based on technology reverse-engineered from the captured Earth Alliance G Project suits. Like their EA predecessors, the ZAFT Gundams are armed with advanced beam weaponry and protected by Phase Shift armor. However, an additional technology is incorporated as well: the Neutron Jammer Canceller, which counters the effects of the ubiquitous N-Jammers and allows these suits to be powered by nuclear reactors. This gives them almost limitless combat endurance, even with Phase Shift armor activated.

ZGMF-X13A Providence

One of these suits is the ZGMF-X13A Providence. It is was the sixth and the last of the series, and in addition to its basic armament of head-mounted CIWS guns, a beam rifle, and a shield mounting small beam guns and a beam saber, the Providence is equipped with the powerful DRAGOON (Disconnected Rapid Armament Group Overlook Operation Network) system (first tested in the YMF-X000A Dreadnought), which allows the pilot to remotely control multiple weapon pods for a devastating attack from multiple directions. While the Providence's large backpack makes it incompatible with the METEOR support system, it compensates for this by carrying 11 DRAGOON pods, with the combined firepower of an amazing 43 beam guns. The ZGMF-X13A Providence uses the operating system Generation Unsubdued Nuclear Drive Assault Module complex.

The Providence doesn't enter service until the final day of the war, September 26, CE 71, but it is used to great effect by Rau Le Creuset, who finally reveals his plot to destroy humanity. Rau proves the Providence's power by overwhelming and severely damaging Mu's GAT-X105 Strike and former subordinate Dearka Elsman's GAT-X103 Buster with its power. He then heavily damages Kira Yamato's ZGMF-X10A Freedom, destroying its METEOR unit in the process. However, Kira ultimately prevails, as Le Creuset is mortally wounded when Kira's beam saber pierced his cockpit, then vaporized by a misfire of the sabotaged GENESIS laser.

Specifications

ZGMF-X13A Providence

Manufacturer: Clark, Asimov & Heinlein Design Bureaus
Users: Zodiac Alliance of Freedom Treaty
Unit type: prototype attack use mobile suit
First Deployment: September 26, CE 71
Head height: 18.16 meters
Weight: 90.68 metric tons
Special equipment: Phase Shift armor, Neutron Jammer Canceller, DRAGOON (Disconnected Rapid Armament Group Overlook Operation Network) system
Powerplant: Ultracompact nuclear fission reactor, power output 8826 kW
Armament: MMI-GAU2 "Picus" 76mm CIWS x2, MA-MV05A composite armed shield with beam saber and 2 small beam guns, MA-M221 "Judicium" high-energy beam rifle x1, large DRAGOON pod (GDU-X7 beam machinegun x9) x3, small DRAGOON pod (GDU-X5 beam machinegun x2) x8
Pilot: Rau Le Creuset

Trivia

• Providence's head crest displays the text "UNDICI", which means "Eleven" in Italian and is a reference to the Providence's model number (and presumably wrong too, because "Tredici" means "Thirteen" in Italian). The "UNDICI" might be because it was the eleventh Gundam to appear in Cosmic Era

• Providence, in certain contexts and definitions, refers to the power and authority of a deity to pass judgement. Such meaning of the gundam's name could refer to Rau Le Creuset's view that he is the only one suited to judge humanity and its fate. The Latin word providentia however refers to foresight, perhaps refering to Le Creuset's Newtype abilities.