Though the RGM-109 Heavygun was the first miniature mobile suit to be mass-produced, it is the Den'an Zon which is truly the first representative of a new age of mobile suits in the late Universal Century. The Den'an Zon, developed and produced by the Crossbone Vanguard, is lighter and had greater performance than any Federation mobile suits produced in UC 117, the year the Den'an Zon was first produced, or in the year UC 123 when the war between the Federation and the Crossbone Vanguard began. Whereas the Heavygun was simply a smaller version of the RGM-89 Jegan and has nothing new, the Den'an Zon has new features such as the defensive beam shield and the offensive shot lancer.
Invasion of the Frontier Colonies seems to be taken into consideration when the Den'an Zon was developed as its primary weapon is the shot lancer, which has a combination of close and long-range weapons in the form of machine guns and a pile-driver lance respectively. Although not an advanced weapon, the shot lancer produces far less collateral damage than beam weapons, thus keeping damage inside the colonies to a minimum.