Jaegers: "Chance to fight back and win"

"There are things you can't fight. Acts of God. You see a hurricane coming, you get out of the way. But when you're in a Jaeger, suddenly, you can fight the hurricane. You can win." —Raleigh Becket

Earth is at war with the Kaiju, colossal sea monsters which have emerged from an interdimensional portal on the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. To combat the monsters, humanity unites to create the Jaegers, gigantic humanoid mechas, each controlled by two co-pilots whose minds are joined by a mental link.

Jaegers ([ˈjɛːɡɐ], Jäger, Hunter) are a special type of mobile weapon created by the Jaeger Program. The Jaegers were the most effective first and last line of defense against the Kaiju during the Kaiju War.

Creation

The Jaeger Program was first developed by Dr. Lars Gottlieb shortly after Jasper Schoenfeld proposed the idea for the Jaeger at the 2014 conference in Seoul, South Korea following the fourth Kaiju attack on Sydney, Australia in September. Prior to the conference, Schoenfeld looked for a more efficient way of killing the monsters without the use of nuclear weapons. Upon witnessing his son playing with a toy robot and toy monster in his room, he came across the inspiration for giant humanoid mechs which could stand up to the Kaiju without resorting to nuclear weapons. Dr. Jasper Schoenfeld's idea was approved by the United Nations.
With the help of Caitlin Lightcap, an expert in brain-machine interface, Schoenfeld was given funding to begin construction on the first prototype Jaeger in a warehouse in Pittsburgh. However, the cost of production made the Pan Pacific Defense Corps hesitant to continue funding Schoenfield and Lightcap. The assistance of Stacker Pentecost in testing the Pons System's effectiveness, however, convinced the Defense Corps. to give the scientists a larger backing than before.

Mark Status

The “Mark" label assigned to each Jaeger refers to the launch schedule. The production program was divided into five annual roll-outs that began in 2015 and ended in 2019. Six Mark-1’s were deployed in 2015, followed by the Mark-2’s in 2016 and the Mark-3's in 2017. Mark-4 and Mark-5 Jaegers were the last produced in 2018 and 2019. Jaegers have no standardized design template; body-types vary widely within each “mark." This level of diversity among the Jaeger designs and weaponry was a tactical response to the high variability in Kaiju shapes. All Mark-1 through Mark-3 Jaegers utilized nuclear reactors, which put their pilots at substantial risk of developing cancer. Gipsy Danger and Cherno Alpha were the last active nuclear-powered Jaegers to play a part in the continued defense of Hong Kong and mission to assault the Breach. Mark-4 and Mark-5 Jaegers, however, used digital technology, minimizing the dangers to the pilots inside the Conn-Pod.
Unfortunately, the development of the Jaeger program was not cheap. The cost of building the Mark-5 Jaeger Striker Eureka, was a reported to be over a hundred billion dollars, more than ten times the cost of a nuclear aircraft carrier.

Well known Jaegers of all time

Mark I

• Cherno Alpha
• Coyote Tango
• Brawler Yukon

Mark II

• Solar Prophet
• Eden Assassin

Mark III

• Gipsy Danger
• Shaolin Rogue

Mark IV

• Crimson Typhoon
• Echo Saber
• Nova Hyperion

Mark V

• Striker Eureka

Personalizing Jaegers

Following the Navy traditions, Jaegers are referred to in masculine or feminine terms, likely as a means of personalizing. Gipsy Danger is predominantly refereed throughout Pacific Rim as "she" (however, in Man, Machines and Monsters Gipsy Danger is referred to as a "he") Gendered or neutral pronouns used for other Jaegers vary depending on the speaker.

Referenced Jaegers