The third mobile suit developed under the Earth Federation's top-secret "Project V," the RX-78 Gundam series saw final assembly and rollout at the Side 7 colony under the supervision of engineer Lieutenant Tem Ray. The RX-78 Gundam, is a state-of-the-art close combat mobile suit. Three prototypes were constructed, although only one unit, the RX-78-2, survived a Zeon attack on Side 7. The RX-78-2, having been commandeered by Ray's young son Amuro, fended off the attack and was transferred to the assault carrier White Base. Amuro Ray would continue to serve as the Gundam's pilot for the remainder of the One Year War, being White Base's mobile front line of defense.

This versatile prototype is equipped with the same sturdy Luna Titanium armor and adaptive learning computer, which allowed the mobile suit to "learn" from - and adapt to - the pilot's input, and is armed with a pair of lethal beam sabers, and can carry a hyper bazooka or a powerful beam rifle for longer-range combat. The Gundam was designed as a fast, close-combat mobile suit and was the first to feature several new technologies, including the energy cap-based beam rifle (making the Gundam the first mobile suit to pack the firepower of a battleship) and beam saber. The data from the learning computer system would later be incorporated into the Federation's first mass-production model mobile suit, the RGM-79 GM.

Source: Gundamproject.com, HG-UC kit manual