User:BaconShelf/Sandbox8
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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]
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.
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]
- M7650 Human Entry Vehicle - an obsolete and unreliable drop pod still in service closer to the start of the Human-Covenant War.[1]
- M8823 Human Entry Vehicle - an older model entering service in 2461 and used by both the UNSC and CMA. Used in large numbers throughout the Insurrection and Human-Covenant War especially on vessels that do not carry dedicated ODST complements.[1]
- M8900 Single Occupant Exoatmospheric Independent Entry Vehicle - a high-speed drop pod preferred by ODST units through the later years of the Human-Covenant War.[1]
- M9407 Single Occupant Exoatmospheric Independent Entry Vehicle - a modern drop pod introduced in the post-war era outfitted with advanced technologies, and utilised by both ODSTs and Spartans.[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,[3] and even the use of regular escape pods for extreme circumstances.[4][5]
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
- Types
- Assault Carapace
- Breaching Carapace
- Intrusion Carapace
- Single occupant
- Suspa Al-pattern Assault Carapace
- Udka-pattern Assault Carapace
- Kalu'teh-pattern Breaching Carapace
- Gloto-pattern Breaching Carapace
- Yado-pattern Intrusion Carapace
- Multiple occupant
- Gloto'kas-pattern Assault Carapace (resuable)
- Gloto'kef-pattern Assault Carapace
- Yado'kef-pattern Assault Carapace
- Kalu'qeh-pattern Breaching Carapace
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
A Jiralhanae Captain in front of a Gydrozka pod.
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.[6]
A Flood dispersal pod in flight over Installation 08.
- ^ a b c d e f Halo Encyclopedia (2022 edition), page 150-151
- ^ Halo Waypoint, UNSC Drop Pods (Retrieved on Jun 1, 2020) [archive]
- ^ Halo: Ghosts of Onyx, Prologue
- ^ Halo 4, campaign level Dawn
- ^ Halo Wars 2, ODST in-game drop pod model
- ^ Halo Encyclopedia (2022 edition), page 407