abstract
| - First appearing in the mission "The Womb", the 002-B is described as a prototype NEXT developed by the renowned Professor Jarnefeldt. It appears to be an earlier design preceding the 03-AALIYAH, sharing a similar appearance. Its most notable features are a pair of large triangular shoulder units with an unspecified function (Possible experimental PA rectifiers or generators), and a large Kojima blade. Despite its fearsome capabilities, the project was eventually abandoned and all research destroyed due to serious problems with the machine. The prototype was highly unstable, killing its test pilots with psychic stress and lethally contaminating the surrounding environment with Kojima radiation. The machines then begun to operate autonomously, indiscriminately destroying anything they encountered. The 002-B appears to have been a tangent project conducted by Rayleonard, based on the same technology that would eventually evolve into the Armored Core NEXT used during the National Dismantlement War and further after. The project was originally scrapped by Rayleonard, although was later resumed during the Lynx War in a risky attempt to gain an advantage. Although a number of units were destroyed by Anatolia's Raven at the Levanteer Facility, the Rayleonard company was apparently able to refine several of the issues with the 002-B, later using them to defend their headquarters at Exavil.
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