Late during the One Year War, the Earth Federal forces realized that they had a major problem with its prototype RX-78-2 Gundam close combat mobile suit: its pilot. Gundam pilot Amuro Ray was an emerging Newtype, and his abilities to predict enemy movements and respond with lightning-fast reflexes was simply pushing the Gundam beyond its design limits. To correct this problem, the Federation set out to develop a new Gundam prototype capable of taking advantage of a Newtype's quick-reacting abilities. The fourth RX-78 prototype was adapted into the RX-78NT1 "Alex," which was completed in early December, and then transferred to a secret research facility in the neutral space colonies of Side 6 for a final round of tuning and testing.

Unlike Zeon's newtype mobile suits and mobile armors, the Alex doesn't have a psycommu interface. Instead, the Federation's designers tried to accommodate the needs of newtype pilots by giving the Alex the highest possible performance. In addition to the standard head vulcan guns, beam sabers and a beam rifle, the Alex mounted a 90 mm Gatling gun in each forearm, giving the mobile suit heavy close-range firepower to back up its beam rifle. Also, it can be outfitted with a set of Chobham armor parts - an option inspired by the FSWS project which produced the FA-78-1 Gundam Full Armor Type. The Alex also replaced the costly and complicated "Core Block System" of the original Gundam with the panoramic cockpit display which later became a standard feature. Another feature adding to the Alex's maneuverability was the "magnetic coating" applied to the suit's joints and motors, reducing friction and wear and making the Alex extremely responsive to pilot input.

Source: Gundamproject.com, Gundam 0080: War in The Pocket