Turaco

The  Turaco (X671) is an aircraft classification developed by the Office of Naval Intelligence.

Design details
Turacos have a long profile, featuring a fore section with a cockpit and a small passenger bay, with two large VTOL-capable engines and a long tail boom at the rear. The long tail on the ship is fitted with a full suite of long-range sensor packages. To aid their operation in flight, they are fitted with anti-gravity pads. Unlike other broadly similar craft such as subprowlers and D102 Owl, Turacos are not fitted with significant stealth capabilities - but are instead equipped with an extensive armour configuration and a short-ranged slipspace drive. These factors make it a tough and versatile vessel, capable of being deployed on a variety of mission types. For use in stealth missions, they must rely on fake transponder codes, rather than avoiding detection altogether.

Turacos have a broadly similar mission to the older.

Armament
A large cannon is mounted on the craft's dorsal surface. The turret is one of several examples of human-developed laser weapons, and fires a beam in the blue range of the electromagnetic spectrum.

Complement
A Turaco is capable of hosting eight passengers in its rear bay. Despite this, they are not considered dropships or intended for use in this role. Their cramped interiors are so small that their crew seating is not big enough to support a fully-kitted Spartan in MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor. The craft only requires one pilot to operate, and its controls are familiar enough that Covert Services veteran Taj McAvoy was able to master the vessel's handling in as little as sixteen hours, with his experience consisting of two thousand hours of combat hours in an assortment of other aircraft.

Development history
Turacos were developed by the Reverse Engineering and Prototyping–Xenotechnology department of the Office of Naval Intelligence, beginning field-testing during the later years of the Human-Covenant War. The initial production run of the craft was only a few dozen, though the promising nature of these testbed examples was enough for full development to be greenlit. Future improvements on the Turaco design are expected to feature further refinements and optimisations.

Operational history
By 2553, at least one Turaco was in the custody of Dark Moon Enterprises - despite the craft's top-secret nature. The example in question was unmarked and lacked a transponder code. The craft was stolen by Veta Lopis and the Ferrets, and was later used by them to conduct Operation: RETRIBUTION following the destruction of the unit's Owl insertion dropship,.

Trivia
As is typical of UNSC vehicles, the Turaco is named after an Earth animal. Turacos are a group of brightly colored birds native to Africa.

List of appearances

 * Halo: Retribution