D96-TCE Albatross

The D96-TCE Albatross more formally known as the D96 Troop Carrier, Equipment Dropship is a heavy-lift dropship of the United Nations Space Command.

Background
The D96-TCE Albatross has, for many decades, been an indispensable part of the UNSC's fleet of armored vehicles, capable of deploying vehicles, crates, weapons and raw supplies, such as hydrogen, deep behind enemy lines. It serves as both an atmospheric and exoatmospheric vehicle capable of deliver troops and supplies whereever needed once a landing zone has been secured. Although the albatross is not armed with any type of weapons system it is a nimble maneuverability and heavily armored, expansive cargo bay allows it to transport troops, weapons and vehicles safely.

The Albatross has a large cargo bay. It is capable of transporting multiple vehicles and other heavy weapons 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 is used as a makeshift base, indicating that it may also serve as a mobile field command post for the UNSC.

Appearances
The Albatross first appeared in concept art in the book The Art of Halo. It has since made appearances in Halo 2 and Halo 3, in the multiplayer maps Relic and Sandtrap respectively. In both Halo 2 and Halo 3, the only observed Albatrosses have crashed into hillsides or have been partially buried. It is possible that the Albatross is the ship that ferries supplies to supply pads in Halo Wars, although no official information regarding this matter has been released, and it is therefore assumed that the two ships are different.

In the 2010 reprint of Halo: Fall of Reach, the Pelican that carried 75 children has been retconned into an Albatross since it has an immensely larger cargo bay than a Pelican even with a troop deployment pod.

Known Albatross dropships

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

Trivia

 * An Albatross is a seabird, in keeping with the UNSC's tradition of naming all it vehicles after animals, with the exceptions of the Cyclops and Gremlin, which are named after mythical creatures, and the Longsword, Shortsword, and Sabre, which are named after bladed weapons.
 * Some Albatrosses have words inscribed on their hulls by their crews, similar to those pilots painted on the exterior of their bombers in World War II. 03 bears the words "Covenant Killer Mk C" and "Humanity-1 Flood-0".

List of appearances

 * Halo 2
 * Halo 3
 * Halo: Fall of Reach

Related Pages

 * United Nations Space Command
 * D77-TC Pelican- The most common UNSC dropship.
 * D77H-TCI Pelican- A newer model of the Pelican.
 * Pod- A heavy transport craft, similar in design to the Albatross.
 * Human Supply Ship- A supply ship that bears great similarity with the Albatross.