GPO-2 Backup Weapons....

[fire_lupine]

while that might be the case....what would the nuke do if fired at/inside a colony?

[Zeis]

Blow it up real good, I'd imagine.

In all seriousness I would imagine a nuke going off inside a colony would be absolutely devastating.

[AmuroNT1]

Fritz: If that's true, I think it bespeaks for the Federation's descent into corruption. "Well, we're not supposed to use nukes, but Zeon did it, so we should have a nuke-throwing Gundam just in case those punks show up again and start trouble." Or, if not corruption, maybe a MAD-happy, "Butter Battle Book" mentality.

As for nukes inside colonies, we've seen what a nuclear reactor going off inside a colony does - just see the first episodes of First Gundam and Unicorn for a visceral demonstration. And those are just reactors going off; imagine what a device INTENDED to blow up would do.

[Fritz Ashlyn]

The Antarctic Treaty was between the Earth Federation and the Principality of Zeon, the latter of which ceased to exist after the war. It doesn't apply after 0079, which is why it was okay for the Londo Bell to huck nukes around in 0093.

[ShadowCell]

besides which, seeing as how Zeon officers were happy to violate the treaty while it was still in force (hey M'Quve, hey Colonel Killing), i think the Federation can be forgiven for wanting to be prepared.

[domtropen]

It's once we've fired a weapon of mass destruction which makes a sizable area and everything in it glow for several centuries.

Firing that nuke pretty much ends any fight.

Unless you're using it in the vacuum of space, where its effects are going to be much less dramatic. The depiction you see in Gundam 0083 is utterly contrary to actual physics; the depiction of nukes in Char's Counterattack is way more scientific.

And, as Amuro NT1 notes, there's no real explanation why the Federation Forces flew the GP02A to Earth, loaded it with a live nuke, and then walked away and left it unguarded in the hangar. Actually, the fact that the Gundam remained aboard the Albion while the nuke was loaded suggests that they may have intended to fly it back into space for testing; I should check the novel and see if it addresses this.

-- Mark

Perhaps they think Zeon Remnants still have hidden giant base and superweapon in the mountain somewhere... Something like Ghinias's base.

As for qualification for making nukes I guess it is ok to become an xxx if your opponent is an xxx then.

[Dendrobium Stamen]

The justifications for the GP02A's existence all seem to be along the lines of "To conquer evil, you must become evil", or some other similar phrase you'd hear in a Nolan-directed Batman film, as far as I can see.

(For clarification, I love Nolan-directed films.)

Still, 0083 doesn't seem to provide any tangible or sensible reasoning for why the Federation Forces commissioned Anaheim Electronics to purpose-built a nuclear-attack Gundam, or why said Gundam was loaded with a live atomic weapon before its testing phase. Or, for that matter, why it had to go from Von Braun City to a base in Australia to pick up said atomic weapon - Char's Counterattack established that the Space Force had its stockpile at Luna II, after all.

I can see two possible theories, neither overly supported or contradicted by the animation (that I'm aware of) which are the only ways to make sense of one of my preferred UC stories (see username):

First and less likely theory - the conspirators within the Federation Forces commissioned GP02A in the hopes that some renegade Zeon remnants would steal it and then use it, to drum up support for a more aggressive remnant-hunting taskforce. That would justify sending it to Earth - upstart Zabi fanatics using nuclear weapons against Jaburo or another key Federation location would help build the required support - but doesn't really explain why they needed a bespoke atomic-armed Gundam.

The second theory - the Federation Security Council were aware there were Zeon remnant groups around, and commissioned Anaheim to realise the Gundam Development Project as part of the Reconstruction Plan to show that the Federation had every intention of continuing to innovate with Gundam-type MS. The role of GP02A, then, was to show the Federation could and would develop a Gundam purposefully designed for nuclear attack as a form of deterrent - try and continue the War, and we'll nuke your hiding places, in essence. In that scenario, GP01/GP01-Fb fulfil the traditional Gundam role, and GP03 acts as a space stronghold defence mobile armour, to protect a key strategic location such as Luna II or Konpei Island from a Zeon assault, while GP01 escorts GP02A to the remnant base, which the latter then hits with a Mk.82 atomic weapon.

It's been too long since I last watched 0083, and may show in those theories, but the second is more or less how I rationalise the existence of those three Gundam types; why their existence was covered up, I don't even want to try explaining...

[JEFFPIATT]

Well in theory the four GP series gundams attempt to emulate zeon ms tech and mission roles on to the EFSF RX-78 base frame.
the GP01 is just an normal RX-78 updated with zeonic technology and an ability to load new core fighters that can change the backpack of the gundam. the FB was an result of the GP01 getting wrecked and the body getting an refit along with the FB core fighter.
the GP02 seems to be inspired solely on the Zeonic Atomic Bazooka and is designed completly around the concept of firing an nuke surviving and getting home.
The GP03 is designed to emulate the late war MA units with the only addition being the embedded gundam controlling the MA platform and acting as an escape pod. the GP04 was aimed to add zeons HI-mobilty tech to an gundam frame only to get canned in favor of useing the GP01FB for the same data. the AGX-04 seemed to just be an zeonic suit that incorporated some FED tech.

[InjuredPelican]

Personally, I think GPo2 was designed/requested by soon-to-be Titans. The entire scheme of Stardust Memory is to orchestrate the creation of the Titans group, and maybe they hoped GPo2 would be a weapon/deterrent to use against "rebellious" space colonies. As for why load nukes onto a MS instead of just a ship, I can think of deception and stealth playing a role. The GPo2 could conceivably infiltrate an area only an MS could access easily and then fire, or slip in while battleships drew attention away from it. Most people won't expect a mobile suit to be packing that kind of weaponry. A stealthy close range use could explain the necessity for heavy armor. Colony destruction definitely seems to be the "best" use for the GPo2 I can think of.

[JEFFPIATT]

i found this bit on info on tv tropes under the Artistic License - Nuclear Physics section.

Amazingly enough, Mobile Suit Gundam averted this: a nuke is launched in one episode, and is then sliced apart by the eponymous Gundams beam saber. Slicing the nuke does not cause it to explode, but fall to pieces harmlessly. How averted this is is debatable, as Amuro is shown he has to slice the missile apart in a certain way to keep it from exploding. Draw your own conclusions.

Sadly, later series are more inaccurate. Both Stardust Memory and Char's Counterattack also prominently featured nukes... which did not behave much like actual nukes would (most horribly: the Physalis Gundam's nuclear bazooka looks like it fires some sort of beam rather than a projectile).
The GP-02's atomic bazooka doesn't seem to be a conventional nuclear missile launcher, as instead of a missile flying out of the shaft, an intense beam of energy emerges. This suggests that the bazooka is actually a casaba howitzer, a directed energy weapon that utilizes a nuclear-shaped charge to generate a high-energy gamma ray laser and is essentially a hypothetical real-life Wave Motion Gun. However, they still fail in that in order to make a casaba howitzer that small without blowing up the GP-02 in the process, it would have to be made of a material much MUCH stronger than anything currently known to man, and since mobile suits of all makes and models are getting torn apart by simple energy and kinetic weapons, this probably isn't the case.
Gundam SEED has ZAFT remove nukes from the equation of war with the N-Jammer, a device that completely cancels nuclear reactions in its radius... somehow. Then N-Jammer Canceller technology is discovered and they go back to launching nukes. ZAFT's next countermeasure is the Neutron Stampeder, which somehow prematurely detonates the warheads before they're launched.

this may help in the discussion.