http://gundam.wikia.com/wiki/File:Ms-09h-beamcannon.jpg
http://gundam.wikia.com/wiki/File:AMX00 ... lScan1.jpg
More recently, we got a glimpse at the AMX-009G used by Zeon forces on Mars by U.C. 0091, which incidentally "borrows" the same shoulder thrusters used by the MS-09H:
http://1st.geocities.jp/binhima2007/old ... h-001.html
http://hobby.dengeki.com/aoz/illust/reboot02-a/
But before discussing the relationship between these two, let's take a step back to the MS-09H's weapon. An interesting detail I hadn't noticed is that supposedly the standard AMX-009 is unable to operate the beam cannon of the prototype Dreissen, since it's tri-blade backpack doesn't seem to provide the enough power to use it, which justifies why the AMX-009G instead uses the older beam bazooka from the OYW:
http://www.mechatalk.net/viewtopic.php? ... 20#p324921The different type of backpack belongs to the Prototype Dreissen, which is supposed to use the mega bazooka at the top. It's supposed to the same one as the beam cannon used by Dowadge. It wasn't adopted because the melee-focused Tri-blade backpack does not provide enough power. The prototype backpack (or Ransel as they are called in the manual) has greater thrust and propellent capacity.
This does raise another question: if the standard AMX-009 can't operate the beam cannon with it's generator output of 2,380 kW, should the MS-09H be able to operate a similar weapon with an output of just 1,440 kW?
There are some ways to go around this: for starters, let's consider that while the beam cannon is the MS-09H's lone beam weapon, the standard Dreissen has it's triple beam guns on both hands as well as its beam tomahawk/beam lancer, so perhaps the sum of all these weapons plus the beam cannon is what the Dreissen is unable to deal with.
Another possibility is that the official specs might be wrong, namely the 1,440 kW generator output of the MS-09H, after all, we already have a precedent of odd specs for this unit: the 2006 Gundam Encyclopedia indicated that the MS-09G and MS-09H actually had the same empty weight of 43.5 mt, while Mahq's profiles give the MS-09H a slightly higher base weight of 44.2 mt. Considering the size of the shoulder attachments, I'm inclined to think that they must add quite a bit of weight to the MS-09H, definitely more than just 700 kg and most certainly not something negligible.
Then, there's also the fact that the additional shoulder thrusters quite likely also need some additional generator output. Added to the fact that the MS-09H has a mysterious new large skirt vent not present on the MS-09G, I suspect that the MS-09H might indeed have a higher output generator, contrary to what the official specs indicate.
This leads me to my next question: if there was indeed a communication between Rommel and Axis forces, how did this happen?
Considering that Rommel or his forces perish against the Gundam team, before meeting the Axis forces that arrived to Earth, we can probably safely disregard the possibility that the information of the MS-09H was passed to Axis at a later point, which leaves us an off screen communication prior to the events of ZZ where Rommel forces engage the Gundam team.
My current theory is that Axis provided Rommel not only with the beam cannon and/or the components needed to upgrade a MS-09G into a MS-09H, but more likely (and more simply) they sent him a brand new MS-09H unit, which would also give justify why the MS-09H has a generator powerful enough to power its beam cannon.
As to how could it have happened: rather than actually meeting with Rommel forces, Axis/Neo Zeon could have simply sent a supply drop to Rommel's location. This would also justify why Rommel was able to identify the MSZ-006 as a "Zeta type", if we assume that they were also provided intel on newer MS.
Most importantly, the color scheme of the MS-09H seems completely out of place: it's not the one used by the base MS-09G, nor the one used by Rommel's MS-06D forces. It definitely doesn't fit with the whole desert warfare theme that Rommel enforces so much, and finally, it's not even his own color scheme, as indicated by his custom MS-06DRC:
http://www.mahq.net/mecha/gundam/zz-msv/ms-06drc.htm
Therefore I'm inclined to think that the MS-09H is indeed a similar machine to the MS-14J, an upgraded OYW MS developed by Axis, which was sent to Rommel in its current color scheme (which I already pointed out, si quite similar to the MS-14J's) alongside intel. the most likely candidates for these actions is the first group of Axis/Neo Zeon forces that descended to Earth before Haman's fleet.
That way, it can be justified why Neo Zeon forces have the data on the MS-09H even if the never actually rendezvous with Rommel's forces, while also providing some explanations for the MS-09H's beam cannon and its color scheme.
How does that sound?