This "Gundam" disparity is somewhat mitigated in my mind because the Federal standard units (VF-24 and others, presumably) are supposed to be wtfcrazypowerful, at least according to the background information that you've mentioned in the past. All these "super" fighters are just playing catch-up with Earth standard tech, right?
(I don't necessarily believe the background info jives with the narrative intent on screen, but that's a separate issue.)