Canon

Dropship

From Halopedia, the Halo wiki

A UNSC Pelican embarking troops.

A tactical aerospace lifter, more commonly known as a combat dropship or dropship[1] is an atmospheric, exoatmospheric, and/or limited space flight transport aircraft/spaceplane of small proportions. They are chiefly designed to service a ship, generally by transporting personnel and/or supplies to and from surfaces or another ship. They are often referred to as an assault boat,[2] shuttlecraft, or troop carrier; depending on the application of their intended type and role.

Role[edit]

The dropships main role is rapid insertion and extraction of troops, equipment and vehicles from the battlefield. Some dropships are designed to carry specific types of cargo, such as supplies or prefabricated structures.[3] On capital ships, dropships perform double duty, serving as tenders in day-to-day activities, but fully equipped to act as evacuation crafts in an emergency.

A military dropship's primary technical definition is any logistical support/deployment platform that can deliver (or extract) troops, military assets, and hardware from space platforms to the surface of a planet or ship (or vice versa) for infiltration, invasion, and boarding operations. These dropships also serve as gunships and utility craft, providing ground operations with close air support in addition to ferrying infantry and matériel between combat zones within atmospheric and/or terrestrial environments.[4]

Covenant dropships[edit]

Boarding craft[edit]

Evacuation craft[edit]

Gunship/close air support craft[edit]

A render of the Kez'katu-pattern Phantom model used in Blur Studio's cutscenes (cropped from this image).
The Covenant's ubiquitous "Phantom" troop carrier.

Orbital insertion craft[edit]

Tender/troop carrier[edit]

VIP/staff transport craft[edit]

Banished dropships[edit]

A render of the Eklon'Dal Workshop Phantom.
A Banished Phantom dropship

Gunship/close air support craft[edit]

  • Eklon'Dal Workshop Phantom - A heavily modified dropship made using captured old Covenant Phantoms. Used by the Banished primarily as a gunship and firing platform.
  • Eklon'Dal Workshop Spirit - A modified Covenant-era Spirit dropship. Often used for the transportation of troops, vehicles, and prefabricated structures.
  • Eklon'Dal Workshop Lich - An ultra heavy matériel and infantry deployment vessel, likely a modified Type-56 Lich.
  • Barug'qel Workshop Trespasser - A Jiralhanae-developed dropshop capable of deploying up to 30 passengers, being supported by 6 heavy plasma cannons, and often used for raiding parties by the Banished and Kig-Yar pirates alike.

Cargo/logistical support craft[edit]

  • Barukaza Workshop siege-hauler - a large heavy-lift vehicle employed for transporting large amounts of materiel to Banished outposts on the front lines of a conflict.

UNSC dropships[edit]

Atmospheric-only craft[edit]

  • UH-144 Falcon – The primary air-to-ground support and troop transport aircraft of the UNSC Army.

Cargo/logistical support craft[edit]

  • D20 Heron – A very large, heavy dropship used for transporting prefabricated structures to groundside locations.
  • D81-LRT Condor – A long-range, slipspace-capable dropship primarily used by the Sedran Colonial Guard.
  • D82-EST Darter – A dropship, similar to the Albatross, used to deliver supplies directly to forward bases.
  • D96-TCE Albatross – A larger, less common dropship used to transport large quantities of matériel and large groups of personnel.

Evacuation craft[edit]

Gunship/close air support craft[edit]

The UNSC's ubiquitous Pelican dropship.

Orbital insertion craft[edit]

VIP/staff transport craft[edit]

Forerunner dropships[edit]

Flood dropships[edit]


Sources[edit]