ZAFT

ZAFT (Zodiac Alliance of Freedom Treaty) is a military organization in the Cosmic Era timeline, for the PLANT-Sponsored Nation.

Overviews
ZAFT is a military organization and the official military of the PLANT colonies. Unlike the Kuro Akatsuki' Four Noble Clans, ZAFT is a militia made up of civilian volunteers and thus has no formal rank structure. Instead the "ranks" of its members are distinguished by the colors of the uniforms, while people in leading positions are referred to as "commander" and "captain." Most ZAFT forces are organized into independent teams which are named after their commanders. Since nearly all ZAFT members are Coordinators, they are able to fight the numerically superior EA forces on equal grounds, thanks to their superior physical and mental abilities. ZAFT is controlled by the PLANT Supreme Council, with its members reporting directly to the chairman of the National Defense Committee. The headquarter of the military is the ZAFT military station, a large cylindrical space station in the PLANT homeland.

Ranks

 * Captain
 * Title, with which officers in charge of a particular military vessel, such as battleships, land carriers, or submarines, are addressed with.


 * Commander
 * Title given to people who are in charge of one of ZAFT's teams, which are frequently formed, dissolved, and rearranged. The team is identified by the name of its leader, hence "Le Creuset-team", "Zala-team", and "Joule-team". A commander will usually be given control of one or more vessels, whether space, land, or sea-based, and/or a number of mobile suits. He or she will be responsible for developing the appropriate strategies to use those resources to carry out the tasks assigned to him or her by the chairman or high-ranked military officers.

Uniforms
As stated above, military achievements and ranks of individual persons are shown by the color of their uniforms.
 * Green
 * Worn by common soldiers, technicians, or mobile suit pilots. The jackets on the standard green uniforms stretch to just past the pelvic areal; they are shorter than the mid-thigh length of the other uniform colors. There are three known styles of standard uniform that vary in style upon stationing:


 * Space Forces (Standard): This is the most commonly seen style in SEED. This style is angled at the bottom of the uniform with a thicker white band down the chest and a thick and mechanized belt that is black an color, like the shoes. The angled white cuffs on the sleeves are long, coming nearly to the elbows, like nearly all of the other uniform styles. This is a very standard style in terms of what is seen.
 * Desert Forces: This uniform is only green and black and lacks any trim whatsoever, as well as the gold ZAFT insignia on the collar. The collar is black and turned down and appears to zipper straight down and ends (or remains unzippered) after the straight black belt with silver clasp. The bottom of the uniform is angled, but only angles downward and the sides of the uniform do not overlap, they are left open. The sleeves are short and do retain the angled style of the other uniforms, however they are short and black and come nearly to the shoulder badges. The boots are also different, they lack the sleek look of the Space style, however, they, like the entirety of the uniform with its 4 pockets (two on the chest, two at the waist), seem to be designed appropriately for the terrain. Short brown gloves and a round-styled hat are available.
 * Ground Forces: This uniform is seen almost never throughout the series and makes an appearance in episode 19 of Destiny during Meer's pseudo-Lacus concert. It has the standard white-trimmed collar of the Space forces, however, the white trim is rectangular, meeting at a 90 degree angle on the right breast. The trim itself follow straight down in a thin line to a straight-cut uniform which has the same straight black belt of the Desert Forces. The white shoulder area only comes to the stitching in the shoulders, leaving the standard ZAFT badges stitched to green cloth. The sleeves are long, however the white straight-cut cuffs only come a quarter of the way up the arm. A hat that is identical to the Desert Forces is available. No notable characters wear this uniform.
 * Tan
 * Worn by command officers in the ground forces who are stationed in warmer climates, such as the desert. Paul Gekko was wearing the that Uniform since his Adventures.


 * Bright Green
 * Worn by mechanics only.


 * Red
 * Worn by elite soldiers or mobile suit pilots, typically the top graduates from ZAFT's academy. Although they are respected, soldiers who wear red do not necessarily have higher positions than their green-clad comrades.


 * Black
 * Worn by the vast majority of officers, including most ship captains. This is also the color worn by the ZAFT's military bureaucracy. Elite pilot Dearka Elsman wears a black commanders uniform(GSD SE).


 * White
 * This coat is the next step up from Red and is worn by those who hold the rank of captain (and are the highest ranking officer on the ship, like Talia Gladys) and commanders, who have their own unique gold markings on the black sections of the uniform, such ash Commander Rau Le Creuset. It's important to not that the rank badge on the chest is also different between the two ranks. Yzak most likely did not receive his white and gold commander's uniform in SEED due to lack of experience.


 * Purple
 * General/Member of the PLANT Supreme Council, or space navy task force commanders, or officers otherwise above black-garbed ship captains and garrison commanders. Patrick Zala wore a modified version of this uniform with enlarged, ornate epaulets.


 * Custom Color Uniforms
 * Anyone in the ZAFT army that proves him or herself in combat are allowed to have a custom colored flight suit. These pilots have no distinct rank, as ZAFT encourages freedom of thought and action, to an extent, in battle, but are usually better than their counter-parts. For example, Rey wore a white pilot suit, however he was not above the command of Talia and still had to follow commands like regular green uniform soldiers. Another example is Andrew "Andy" Waltfeld. He was known as the Desert Tiger, and wore a special tiger-striped orange-and-black pilot suit while fellow submarine commander Marco wore the regular green uniform. Andy was above the command of most other commanders and generals at the time. Usually, the custom uniforms also came with a custom suit. Heine had an orange colored ZAKU Phantom and GOUF Ignited to match his pilot suit, Lunamaria remained with her Red uniform and had her ZAKU repainted in the same color and hue. Andy had a special BuCUE armed with fangs and claws made to match his "Tiger" outfit and an orange colored LaGOWE, complete with Beam "Fangs" and claws. Typically, pilots who wear green or red uniforms wear the matching color of pilot suit and commanders, when piloting, still wear white.

Technology
ZAFT has over time developed several unique and powerful technologies, which gave them advantage over the EA forces. They also have their own weapons producers, which include Martius Arsenals and Maius Military Industries, as well as Asimov Design Bureau.

Mobile Suits
ZAFT was the first military force to develop and use mobile suits, with the first mass-produced mobile suit being the ZGMF-1017 GINN. This suit gave ZAFT forces a tactical advantage over the EA forces, which used the outdated TS-MA2 Moebius mobile armors. Thanks to this fact, ZAFT was able to fight the numerical superior EA forces to a standstill, while also conquering portions of Earth, thanks to new MS developed for use in Earth's different terrains, like underwater, desert or airbased MS. While ZAFT MS were at first only equipped with shell-firing weapons and conventional missiles, they soon created beam weaponry after their forces were able to steal four prototype mobile suits developed by the Atlantic Federation. Thanks to this technology, ZAFT created advanced new mobile suits like their first series of Gundam-type suits and the ZGMF-600 GuAIZ MS.

Vessels
ZAFT over time developed several different types of vessels to use in space and on Earth. Such vessels include Nazca-class and Laurasia-class warships in space, Lesseps-class (Replaced by the Compton-class) and Petrie-class vessels on land, and Vosgulov-class submarines at sea. ZAFT also created the large Gondwana-class carrier, the largest spaceship in the Earth Sphere as well as the advanced battleship Minerva, which was capable of fighting the EA's Archangel-class on equal terms.

Nuclear technology
ZAFT has consistently proven itself to be on the cutting edge of nuclear technology, producing the Neutron Jammer, the Neutron Jammer Canceller, and the Neutron Stampeder to deal with nuclear weaponry. Other nuclear technology include nuclear reactors for their mobile suits, granting them virtually unlimited operation time and the more advanced Hyper-Deuterion Engine. The most powerful nuclear technology created by ZAFT was GENESIS, a huge gamma-ray cannon, capable of annihilating a whole fleet or rendering a planet uninhabitable. Over time, three versions of this superweapon were developed. It should be noted however, that ZAFT itself never used the "classic" nuclear missiles which are used by the EA forces.

Earth Bases

 * Carpentaria Base
 * The Carpentaria Base is the first major military base of ZAFT on Earth, built on April 2, C.E. 70. Located along the northern coast of the Oceania Union in Australia, Carpentaria serves as ZAFT's Pacific Headquarters on Earth. On August 8, C.E. 71, the Earth Alliance launched Operation: 8.8 and captured Carpentaria, but after signing the Treaty of Junius Carpentaria was returned to ZAFT.


 * Gibraltar Base
 * The Gibraltar Base is ZAFT's second major base on Earth (next to Carpentaria), constructed after the Gibraltar land formation was captured on May 25, C.E. 70. Using the Strait of Gibraltar, it serves as ZAFT's European and African front-line base. On July 24, C.E. 71, the Earth Alliance attacked the base, forcing ZAFT to abandoned it: however, after signing the Treaty of Junius, it was returned to ZAFT.


 * Lagash Base
 * The Lagash Base is ZAFT's secret underwater supply facility in the Pacific Ocean, consisting of several interconnected dome structures and docking facilities. Named after the ancient Sumerian city, the base serves primarily to resupply the Carpentaria and Gibraltar bases.


 * Mahamul Base
 * To combat the Earth Alliance's Suez Base, the Mahamul Base was constructed at the northern point of the Persian Gulf. Joachim Ruddle is the commandant of the base.

Lunar Bases

 * Lorentz Crater
 * The Lorentz Crater is the site of the only ZAFT lunar base ever established. Beginning May 3, C.E. 70, ZAFT used the base to launch attacks at the Ptolemaeus base, but was abandoned after the disastrous loss at the Endymion Crater.