M8900 SOEIVs on insertion during Operation: FIRESIDE.

Drop pods are a kind of vehicle utilised for the purpose of deploying troops and materiel from an orbiting warship to the surface of a planet in a short amount of time. They are less commonly used than dropships due to their unconventional (and frequently disposable) nature.[1][2][3][4]

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Overview

Human drop pods

Drop pods are common fixtures of the two primary human militaries of the galaxy; the United Nations Space Command and the Colonial Military Authority. Of these, the UNSC are particularly reliant on the use of drop pods thanks to the aptly-named Orbital Drop Shock Troopers; specialised shock troops who specialise in the use of drop pods to insert behind enemy lines and conduct special missions.

Drop pod deployments have a lower overall attrition rate than a standard dropship insertion; this is due to each soldier being deployed individually rather than multiple in one craft. As such, even if anti-aircraft fire takes out several drop pods, it is still overall fewer casualties than dozens of soldiers being killed when a Pelican (or similar craft) is downed.[4][5][6]

Variants

The design and manufacturing of drop pods has two major delineations; Single Occupant Exoatmospheric Insertion Vehicles/Vessels (SOEIVs) and Human Entry Vehicles (HEVs).[1]

The UNSC also makes use of other, more unique kinds of drop pod. These include stealth-capable slipspace insertion pods which can be fired from a ship inside slipspace at a target world,[7] and even the use of regular escape pods for extreme circumstances.[8][9]

For logistics, drop pods can also be used to deploy weapons, equipment, and even light vehicles (such as a Mongoose) to the battlefield. These kinds of logistics pods include both smaller dropship-carried ordnance pods and larger SOEIV/HEV-style orbital insertion pods.

Covenant drop pods

The Covenant have a long history of drop pod use, dating back to San'Shyuum Reformist pods used during the War of Beginnings[10] to several designs used during the empire in the Human-Covenant War and by its remnants in the post-war years.[11]

Unlike the UNSC's deployment methodology, the Covenant use their drop pods primarily for massed assaults rather than the strategic goals more characteristic of the ODSTs. They are generally deployed at the strategic discretion of a given shipmaster without a consistent overall strategem - launched from spacecraft high above a planet

Variants

Types
  • Assault Carapace
  • Breaching Carapace
  • Intrusion Carapace
Single occupant
Multiple occupant


Banished drop pods

The Banished make use of drop pods of their own design. The primary variant used is the Gydrozka Workshop Breaching Pod


Dreadnought drop-bases

Flood dispersal pods

While not a drop pod in the traditional sense, Flood dispersal pods are living infection forms utilised by the Flood parasite to facilitate the spread of the infection from world to world. They are grown to act as disposable containers for combat forms, pure forms, and spores - shielding the occupants during orbital insertions and bursting apart on contact with the surface. They can be deployed from an infected warship in orbit or expelled from Flood hives on the ground via gas discharges.[12]

  1. ^ a b c d e f Halo Encyclopedia (2022 edition), page 150-151
  2. ^ Halo Waypoint, UNSC Drop Pods (Retrieved on Jun 1, 2020) [archive]
  3. ^ Halo Waypoint, The New Halo Encyclopedia is Out Today: "DROP POD - Small reentry vehicle used to transport combat troops from planetary orbit to the surface." (Retrieved on Dec 19, 2022) [archive]
  4. ^ a b Halo: The Essential Visual Guide, page 52
  5. ^ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named Enc09
  6. ^ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named Enc11
  7. ^ Halo: Ghosts of Onyx, Prologue
  8. ^ Halo 4, campaign level Dawn
  9. ^ Halo Wars 2, ODST in-game drop pod model
  10. ^ Halo: Broken Circle, Prologue
  11. ^ Halo Encyclopedia (2022 edition), page 284-285
  12. ^ Halo Encyclopedia (2022 edition), page 407