D77H-TCI Pelican

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D77H-TCI Pelican

The Dropship-77 Heavy Duty Troop Carrier/Infantry Pelican, abbreviated D77H-TCI Pelican, is a newer model of the venerable D77-TC Pelican, recently introduced into service within the UNSC Marine Corps and Navy in late 2552 and early 2553 (the Halo 3 era). It differs from the D77-TC in many respects, but is also improved in several ways. It still operates as a flexible dropship/gunship VTOL.

Background
The D77H-TCI is a fleet wide upgrade to the UNSC's squadrons of Pelican dropships, incorporating many differences from its older counterparts. First seen deployed in November, 2552, the newer model assisted in the recovery effort to rescue Spartan-117 from the jungle region in Kenya , and evacuated wounded Marines from Crows Nest base as it suffered Covenant assault. Others would airlift Marines and equipment to reinforce the UNSC's attempts to retake the town of Voi, coordinating with Hornet air forces.

Later, D77H-TCI Pelicans would take part in the Elite-Human assault on the Covenant at The Ark, inserting Spartan-117 and a team of ODST's to secure a landing zone for the ship Forward Unto Dawn and pick them up again as they discovered the location of the Prophet of Truth and his forces. A joint force of Pelicans and Elite Phantoms would deliver Spartan-117, the Arbiter and Sergeant Major A. J. Johnson to deactivate three shield generators protecting the Prophet's location at the Arks Core, with several being taken down by Type-52 Anti Aircraft Artillery Wraiths and by Banshees, fighting their way to allow the Arbiter and Spartan-117 to assault the third generator and shut it down. A D77H-TCI was used by Commander Miranda Keyes's failed attempt to rescue Sergeant Johnson from Truth and his Brute forces, and was used by the Sergeant to escape from a Flood assault.

A D77H-TCI Pelican crashed on High Charity, which in turn crashed onto the new Installation 04. It was used by Spartan-117 and the Arbiter to rescue the UNSC AI Cortana, and then flew to Installation 04 (II)'s Control Room. Pelicans have saved the lives of many Marines and Spartans due to their flexibility, offensive capabilities, and ability to successfully and very quickly air lift in equipment and/or reinforcements into or out of the battlefield.

These Pelicans have a multi-sided modern day counterpart. Transport choppers, modern day air force helicopters used to transport troops using VTOL capabilities, and other helicopters made to engage ground units as a flexible gunship.

Payload Capacity
Though an upgrade, the D77H-TCI variant of the Pelican carries the same number of passengers as its predecessor. However, its troop-bay is more flexible, able to carry up to two Mongoose ULATV's internally, in addition to ten passengers, also it has a hermetic door on its rear section for ship-to-shore orbital insertions. The D77H-TCI Pelican's cockpit also differs from its predecessor, using a tandem seating rather than the side-by-side configuration used on the D77-TC. It is presumed that the pilot furthest toward the front operates the craft's flight systems, with the co-pilot seated behind him operating the other systems. A small holo-tank has been installed in the series, allowing an artificial intelligence to project its holographic form to the craft's pilots.

Its tail-mounted magnetic clamps are capable of carrying a M12 Warthog LRV, M12G1 Warthog LAAG or M831 TT Warthog, an M808B Scorpion MBT, or four Type C Resupply Capsules rather than six of the older Type B Resupply Capsules, to the battlefield, able to detach its payload without landing decreasing the chance of an attack While it unloads.

Armament
The D77H-TCI Pelican lacks the nose-mounted chain-gun of its predecessor. The pelican is able to mount an AIE-486H Heavy Machine Gun in its troop-bay compartment for supporting ground teams and covering the Departure of its passengers, an improvement from the previous M247 GPMG, although this prevents it from carrying a Mongoose internally. Its wings can attach on two missile-pods for engaging air or ground hostile units, which has proven effective against enemy Phantom Dropships and Covenant infantry, able to fire more missiles and faster than the older ANVIL-II ASM Pods. It can fire up to 12 missiles at once, six from each pod (as seen at the end of Sierra 117). The D77H-TCI can also be equipped with a much larger cannon, mounted at the ventral-fore of the dropship.

Propulsion
The main engines are mounted in pairs in four nacelles, one situated on each wing and two at the rear and posterior. The nacelles can articulate independently, thus altering (referred to as vectoring in aviation) the direction of thrust and improving the D77H-TCI Pelican's low altitude maneuverability. Four ventral thrusters are identified by markings and a rendered thrust effect, one on each wing nacelle and one on each aft nacelle, allow the drop ship to land and take off vertically. These engines are capable of both space and atmospheric operation. It has 8 jet intakes, 3 on each side and 2 on top. The D77H-TCI Pelican is too small to have a Slipspace matrix mounted inside.

The wings mounted on a Pelican seem extremely small, too small to support the weight of drop ship and payload alone. It is speculated that it utilizes at least some Lifting Body principles, using its own hull create most of the lift necessary for flight. It may also be that the Pelican partially relies upon thrust vectoring, referred to as jet-borne flight as opposed to wing-borne flight which can be further reinforced with the fact that down-ward aiming jets can be seen on the bottom of the thruster mountings. It should be noted that small wings are very efficient for high-speed flight, as demonstrated by the F-104 Starfighter. It is also a benefit for operations in the upper atmosphere, especially re-entry, as was the case with the X-15.

Identified D77H-TCI Pelican Dropships

 * Echo 51
 * Kilo 23
 * Oscar 5
 * Oscar 6
 * Oscar 8
 * Oscar 9
 * Victor 398

Trivia

 * The D77H-TCI Pelican can be seen being assembled autonomously by Misriah Armories in the Halo: Arms Race short film.
 * In the cockpit it has a screen which in Hocus' Pelican reads "connected to UNSCDF via local grid Pz87-3383", It also has the insignia of the UNSCDF in the upper left corner. This screen is also used as a method of communication in scripted sequences.
 * It is possible to kill the pilots in Halo 3 by using a plasma grenade on Sierra 117, making it impossible to complete the level.
 * Pelicans, unlike Phantoms are invincible in-game, surviving direct hits from the weapons of everything from a Scorpion to a Scarab. The sole exception to their invulnerability lay in the multiplayer map Rat's Nest where sprites in likeness of them can be destroyed by the Spartan Laser.
 * In Halo: Custom Edition, many maps supplied for the client feature user created Halo 2-styled pelicans to drive. Most have a weapons system of around .50 cal heavy machine gun and wing-mounted guided rockets.
 * The only way to fly a Pelican in the Halo trilogy is through modding, glitches or playing on Halo: Custom Edition maps like "Hugeass", "Hotzone", and "Pelican Gulch", among other maps.
 * By killing the pilot of a pelican (for example: sticking the glass around it), the pelican will fall, going through the floor. This may glitch the gameplay up for a while.

Internal Links

 * D77-TC Pelican
 * Albatross Dropship
 * Phantom Dropship
 * Spirit Dropship