D96-TCE Albatross

Albatross

The Albatross Heavy Dropship is a heavy-lift dropship of the United Nations Space Command.

Background
From its general design and structure, it seems to be a dedicated cargo dropship for vehicles, crates, weapons and raw supplies such as hydrogen for the ground units in the field, rather than possessing any combat capabilities. It appears suited more towards ferrying supplies to a planet's surface once a landing zone has been secured, as vehicles such as the Pelican have a more aggressive nature and can also double as gunships.

The Albatross has a large cargo bay. It is capable of transporting multiple vehicles at a time. Once it has landed, it lowers three metal ramps holding the bay, allowing its cargo to be unloaded. Both times the Albatross has been seen, it can be used as a makeshift base, indicating that it may also serve as a mobile field command post for the UNSC.

Appearances of the Albatross
The Albatross first appeared as concept art in the book The Art of Halo. It has since made appearances in Halo 2 & 3 (on the multiplayer maps Relic and Sandtrap respectively), as well as in Halo Wars. In both Halo 2 & 3, the only observed Albatrosses had crashed into a hillside and been partially buried. Its first active appearance is in Halo Wars, where it is used to ferry supplies, in from the Spirit of Fire.

At sandtrap it has a rocket launcher directly underneath it

Known Albatross class dropships

 * 03: Attached to the UNSC Aegis Fate, crash-landed on an abandoned base.

Trivia

 * The Albatross appears on two maps, Relic and Sandtrap. By coincidence, both maps are large, and meant for Big Team Battles, however both are crashed and unusable, only able to serve as makeshift bases and sometimes weapon caches.
 * An albatross is also a bird, in keeping with the animal naming tradition.
 * The Albatross has been seen in Halo Wars while in action, as footage from E3 shows it bringing down supplies from the UNSC Spirit of Fire to supply pads as part of the economic aspect of gameplay.
 * The Albatross can be seen fully in the latest Halo Wars trailer, along with Serina and the Arbiter.
 * Some Albatrosses have words inscribed on their hulls by their crews, similar to what pilots would paint on the exterior of their bombers in World War 2. On Sandtrap, the crashed Albatross has the words "Covenant Killer Mk C" and "Humanity-1 Flood-0"
 * The Albatross in Halo Wars seems puny compared to the ones in the FPS games; it is about the size of a Warthog. This may be an early version of the dropship or a specially designed Albatross used to ferry supplies.

Related Links

 * United Nations Space Command
 * Pelican- The most common UNSC dropship.
 * D77H-TCI Pelican Dropship- A newer Pelican version.
 * Pod- A heavy transporting craft, similar in design to the Albatross.
 * UNSC Aegis Fate