Tanks
Although mobile suits are the main focus of the series, tanks are in use. For example, in the One Year War, Earth Federation Ground Forces rely heavily on their Type 61 Tank since they do not have mobile suits until towards the end of the war. Zeon forces also introduce a tank/fighter hybrid, the Magella Attack Tank, as mass produced ground vehicles helping the outnumbered Zeon mobile suits against the Earth Federation's massive force of Type 61s.
In the background story, more is told about tanks and readers could conclude that tanks are actually still the main ground combat unit, mobile suits are comparatively less effective due to their complicated designs and size. Tanks are less seen on screen just because the series focuses on the development of mobile suits.
The Type 61 can hardly be imagined as a mobile weapon using the same technology as MS and MA since it is manufactured in UC0061, well before the Minovsky Technology become mainstream. However, the Magella Attack incorporates propulsion technology of the mobile suits and can have a thrust large enough to lift it in air while firing its cannon.
Later in the story, the Earth Federation Forces deployed a tank called G-Bull as a support mecha of RX-78-2 Gundam and have E-Cap technology built in for it to fire beam weaponry.
Read more about this topic: Mobile Weapons
Famous quotes containing the word tanks:
“Today, almost forty years later, I grow dizzy when I recall that the number of manufactured tanks seems to have been more important to me than the vanished victims of racism.”
—Albert Speer (1905–1981)