HYPERION GUNDAM

CAT1-X1/3(Unit 1)、CAT1-X2/3(Unit 2)、CAT1-X3/3(Unit 3)

Jointly developed by the Eurasian Federation and Actaeon Industries, the Hyperion was the Eurasian Federation's attempt to break the Atlantic Federation's monopoly on mobile suit development technology within the Earth Alliance. To that end, while based on the technologies used by the Atlantic Federation and ZAFT, it also incorporated the Eurasian Federation's own technology. Its model number prefix, "CAT", stood for "Composition Armament Tactical".

The Hyperion's greatest feature is the "Armure Lumiere", an improved version of the Eurasian Federation's Lightwave Barrier. By activating the five generators of the "Armure Lumiere" mounted on the backpack and the backpack's wing binders simultaneously, the Hyperion was able to project a 360-degree barrier around its entire body. Unlike the space fortress Artemis' Lightwave Barrier, the "Armure Lumiere" was mono-phase, allowing the Hyperion to fire at enemies from behind the barrier. This enabled the Hyperion to execute unorthodox tactical maneuvers in conjunction with other units, such as charging into the center of the enemy force by itself using the overwhelming defensive power of the "Armure Lumiere" and then causing havoc with its other weapons. The enemy units damaged by this attack were dealt the finishing blow by allies of the Hyperion that arrived later.

While the 360-degree "Armure Lumiere" barrier made Hyperion theoretically invincible, it could only function for five minutes due to high energy consumption. To save power, the Hyperion was also equipped with a pair of arm-mounted "Armure Lumiere" generators that could be activated independently to serve as shields. Additionally, to conserve as much energy as possible for the "Armure Lumiere", all of the Hyperion's other weapons were equipped with their own power cells. Development of the Hyperion was terminated after three units were built due to changes in the political situation, with the Eurasian Federation deciding to adopt the Atlantic Federation's Dagger series mobile suits. Despite this, the Hyperion Unit 1 was ultimately able to solve its power consumption issue when it was installed with a nuclear generator and a Neutron Jammer Canceller. This variant was referred to as the "Super Hyperion".