D77-TC Pelican

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The D77-TC Pelican, formally known as the Dropship 77-Troop Carrier and commonly known as the Pelican, is an extremely versatile space-to-ground capable craft used by the United Nations Space Command, mainly for the pickup and transportation of personnel, vehicles and equipment, as well as a powerful gunship.

Background
The D77-TC Pelican is mainly responsible for the rapid insertion and extraction of troops. They also deliver vehicles and equipment to the battlefield, when required. The D77-TC has been in service for over fifty years, and is the primary tactical support aircraft of the UNSC. The Pelican serves a multi-role purpose; it is fully capable of atmospheric flight and can land almost anywhere without difficulty. The Pelican is also capable of limited spaceflight, which the UNSC uses as a primary way of delivering troops to the surface from orbit. Standard armament consists of one Class III externally powered projectile weapon at the fore of the vehicle, and one Class I gas-operated projectile weapon mounted at the rear, in the extended crew area. More heavily armed variants exist, and the Pelican can be converted to a gunship role with the addition of numerous and more powerful weaponry.

Payload capacity
The Pelican is capable of carrying up to seventy tons of passengers and cargo using a combination of internal and external methods. The main compartment of the Pelican is sometimes called the "Blood Tray". Optimally, the "Blood Tray" has enough compartment space for ten seated people, but can hold five additional standing people, though the Pelican can carry many more passengers if necessary. However, this increased payload capacity is sometimes due to internal modification. For example, the SPARTAN-IIs were assigned a specialized Pelican that was able to hold an entire team of twenty-five, as well as fitting cutting gear to board a Covenant warship. Three Pelicans used for the SPARTAN-III Program carried 300 children, though this may have been the effort of numerous trips back and forth from the surface.

The large aft overhang gives an attachment point for additional, cargo and ordnance. Possible payloads include a troop deployment pod, an M808B Main Battle Tank, an M12 Force Application Vehicle, or eight resupply canisters.

Armament
The Pelican's standard armament consists of a chin-mounted 70mm chain gun, which largely superseded the 40mm chain gun that was common prior to 2525,, a rotary machine gun, or an M638 20mm autocannon. Some dropships are armed with twin chain guns that fire depleted uranium slugs. These weapons are usually controlled by the pilot's helmet so that it aims in the direction of the pilot's view, similar to the modern TADS/PNVS found on AH-64 Apache gunships or the Heads Up Display system in a SPARTAN's armor.

Some troop carrier versions especially in the Army can be equipped with chin mounted 20mm chain guns that allow it to clear enemy infantry resistance and light vehicles in the landing zone before and during when troops dismount. Missile pods, each holding eight ANVIL-II Air-to-Surface Missiles, can be mounted under each wing to engage more maneuverable or better protected targets. Fire control is typically delegated to the copilot, who was assisted by a helmet-mounted display. An M247 General Purpose Machine Gun with an optional 25mm grenade launcher, or an AIE-486H Heavy Machine Gun, can also be mounted facing out the rear cargo hatch. These weapons can be folded against the roof of the internal bay when not in use by the crew chief or a passenger.

Propulsion
The main engines are mounted in pairs in four nacelles, one on each wing and two at the rear. The nacelles can articulate independently, thus vectoring the direction of thrust and improving the dropship's low-altitude maneuverability. Six ventral thrusters, two on each wing nacelle and one on each aft nacelle, allow the Pelican to land and take off vertically. These engines are capable of both space and atmospheric operation. The D77-TC, although fully capable of orbital insertion, is too small to be equipped with a Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engine, and thus is incapable of slipspace travel.

The wings mounted on a Pelican seem extremely small, too small to support the weight of dropship and payload alone. It is likely that the design of the Pelican incorporates lifting body principles, with its own hull providing most of the necessary lift.

D77H-TCI
The D77H-TCI appears nearly identical to the regular D77-TC except for being more angular. However,instead of the side-by-side positioning of the pilot and copilot, the pilot sits at the fore of the dropship, with the co-pilot behind him/her, and at a higher position, in tandem. The D77H-TCI is capable of sporting missile pods that are integrated directly into the wings rather than the externally mounted pods used by the D77.

Law enforcement
The D77C-NMPD is a variant of the D77H-TCI that was utilized by the New Mombasa Police Department in Kenya, Africa, on Earth. It was differentiated from its military counterpart by a black and white color scheme, with the word "POLICE" replacing the traditional "MARINES" on the external hull, and a noted lack of armament. Under the craft's chin, where a machine gun turret or autocannon would normally be installed, were various interchangeable sensors used by the police for aerial surveillance and crowd control. An AIE-486H Heavy Machine Gun was typically mounted in the personnel bay of the D77C-NMPD, similarly to the D77 and D77H models.

Unidentified UNSC Air Force variant
Though the UNSC Air Force uses the D77-TC Pelican like the Marines and Navy, it features a few major differences from other variants of the aircraft. First the cockpit layout resembles the newer D77H-TCI Pelicans with the co-pilots station located behind and above the pilot rather than side by side as seen in the Marine Corps version of the D77-TC. Also most Air Force Pelicans have chin-mounted 20mm Autocannons rather than 40mm or 70mm weapons mounted on Marine Corp Pelicans. Another difference seen in Air Force Pelicans is that the cockpit is not separated from the troop bay, instead the troop bay and cockpit form a larger interior space than the Marine or Navy Pelicans.

Identified Pelicans
Pelicans receive serial numbers to be identified by during radio transmissions, particularly in combat situations. Each serial number consists of a letter from the Phonetic Alphabet followed by a number. Though a few Pelicans have this number inscribed on their cargo bays, most have no distinguishing mark on their exteriors. It is unclear how the numbers are chosen, but with their spread across the alphabet and numerals, it can be inferred that a very large number of Pelicans are in service, perhaps as many as 26,000.

Trivia

 * All Pelican dropships in Halo: Combat Evolved bear either the numbers E419 (Echo 419) or V933 (Victor 933). This was likely done to save resources during the development of the game.
 * The Pelican shows clear inspiration from the UD4L Cheyenne dropship from the movie Aliens, which has inspired the Halo series in many ways.
 * In Halo 2 gameplay, players can see the insides of the Pelican's cockpit, but no pilots are inside, despite they can be heard in COMs.
 * There is a glitch in the Halo 2 level Metropolis where the player can operate the Pelican. It will take the player out of the map, flip, and eject the player. If the player attempts to right the flipped Pelican, the script will read "Hold X to flip Banshee", because Bungie never intended for the Pelican to be operable by the player, and therefore did not make a unique message. The Pelican's in-game physics will make it impossible to correctly and permanently flip the Pelican, as it will always reposition itself in an upside-down position.
 * In Halo: Reach, the player can pilot a Pelican through an Easter egg.
 * In Halo: Reach, the inside screens show information on the Office of Naval Intelligence's Sword Base.
 * In Halo: Reach, all Pelicans are registered as Noble Team assets, as they are all given the tag "NOBLE 48".

List of appearances

 * Halo: Combat Evolved
 * Halo 2
 * Halo Wars
 * Halo: Reach
 * Halo: The Fall of Reach
 * Halo: The Flood
 * Halo: First Strike
 * Halo: Ghosts of Onyx
 * Halo: The Cole Protocol
 * Halo: Evolutions - Essential Tales of the Halo Universe
 * Pariah
 * Dirt
 * Blunt Instruments
 * The Impossible Life and the Possible Death of Preston J. Cole
 * Halo Graphic Novel
 * The Last Voyage of the Infinite Succor
 * Halo Wars: Genesis
 * Halo Legends
 * Origins
 * Homecoming
 * Prototype
 * Odd One Out
 * Birth of a Spartan