Dropship

A UNSC Pelican embarking troops.

A tactical aerospace lifter, more commonly known as a combat dropship or dropship is an atmospheric, exoatmospheric, and/or limited space flight transport aircraft/spaceplane of small proportions. They are chiefly designed to service a ship, generally by transporting personnel and/or supplies to and from surfaces or another ship. They are often referred to as an assault boat, shuttlecraft, or troop carrier; depending on the application of their intended type and role.

Role

The dropships main role is rapid insertion and extraction of troops, equipment and vehicles from the battlefield. Some dropships are designed to carry specific types of cargo, such as supplies or prefabricated structures. On capital ships, dropships perform double duty, serving as tenders in day-to-day activities, but fully equipped to act as evacuation crafts in an emergency.

A military dropship's primary technical definition is any logistical support/deployment platform that can deliver (or extract) troops, military assets, and hardware from space platforms to the surface of a planet or ship (or vice versa) for infiltration, invasion, and boarding operations. These dropships also serve as gunships and utility craft, providing ground operations with close air support in addition to ferrying infantry and matériel between combat zones within atmospheric and/or terrestrial environments.

Covenant dropships

A Type-25 Spirit, a Covenant dropship.

Boarding craft

• Type-28 Tick

Evacuation craft

• Covenant escape pod

Gunship/close air support

• Phantom dropships - The primary series of Covenant dropship.
  • Type-44 "Phantom" Troop Carrier – A dropship supplanted by a newer model, the Type-52, which was ubiquitous later in the Human-Covenant War. Jul 'Mdama's Covenant use the Type-44 as their primary dropship, likely due to the scarcity of newer models.
  • Type-52 "Phantom" Troop Carrier – A more heavily armed version of the Type-44 typically used to transport personnel, though also used to transport matériel.
    • Type-52 "Phantom" Gunboat – Exoatmospheric combat craft and a variant of the Type-52 Troop Carrier. It is used for space-based engagements.
  • Type-57 Phantom Troop Carrier - an updated variant introduced into service among the Swords of Sanghelios and Jul 'Mdama's Covenant.
• Type-25 "Spirit" Troop Carrier – A dropship commonly used to transport matériel, though also used to transport personnel.
  • Type-57 "Spirit" Troop Carrier - Post-war variant of the Spirit dropship used by the Swords of Sanghelios and Jul 'Mdama's Covenant.
• Type-56 "Lich" Ground Support/Ultra Heavy Deployment Platform – The largest airborne deployment platform, the Type-56 boasts heavy armament and is capable of mass deployments of up to forty soldiers.

The Covenant's ubiquitous "Phantom" troop carrier.

Orbital insertion craft

• Orbital insertion pod
• Heavy orbital insertion pod

Tender/troop carrier

• Kig-Yar shuttle
• Kig-Yar troop carrier

VIP/staff transport craft

• Contrition-class transport

UNSC dropships

Atmospheric-only craft

• UH-144 Falcon – The primary air-to-ground support and troop transport aircraft of the UNSC Army.

Cargo/logistical support craft

• D20 Heron – A very large, heavy dropship used for transporting prefabricated structures to groundside locations.
• D81-LRT Condor – A long-range, slipspace-capable dropship primarily used by the Sedran Colonial Guard.
• D82-EST Darter – A dropship, similar to the Albatross, used to deliver supplies directly to forward bases.
• D96-TCE Albatross – A larger, less common dropship used to transport large quantities of matériel and large groups of personnel.

Evacuation craft

• Class-3 Bumblebee
  • SKT-9 Bumblebee
• Class-5 Bumblebee
• SKT-13 shuttlecraft
• SKT-21 shuttlecraft
• SKT-29 shuttlecraft
• RLT-85 Shuttlepod

Gunship/close air support craft

The UNSC's ubiquitous Pelican dropship.

• Pelican dropships – The primary series of UNSC dropship.
  • D75-TC Pelican - Pelican dropship employed in the early years of the war with the Covenant.
    • D75/r Pelican - A D75 Pelican variant nicknamed the "slash-r" outfitted with a special scouting package, used for reconnaissance missions.
    • D75/g Pelican - A D75 Pelican variant nicknamed the "slash-g", which is furnished as a gunship
  • D77-TC Pelican – The standard Pelican dropship.
    • D77H-TCI Pelican – A more recent, upgraded model of the Pelican.
    • D77C Pelican - Paramilitary Pelican employed by law enforcement.
      • D77C-NMPD Pelican – A law enforcement variant of the Pelican.
        • Troop deployment pod – Overhang extension to increase passenger load capacity.
    • G77S Pelican - Gunship Pelican variant.
  • D78-TC Pelican - A less common model used after the Covenant War, with improved avionics and thrusters
  • D79-TC Pelican – Became the UNSC's standard dropship by 2557; replacing the D77-TC and D77H-TCI models.
    • Corp Pelican - Pelican variant employed by the Liang-Dortmund Corporation.
    • G79H-TC Pelican - A gunship variant of the D79-TC Pelican.
• Owl - A stealth-capable insertion craft.
• G81 Condor - A gunship variant of D81-LRT Condor, used by the crew of UNSC Spirit of Fire.

Orbital insertion craft

• SOEIV Human Entry Vehicle
  • LRSOIP variant

VIP/staff transport craft

• Command shuttle

Forerunner dropships

• Falco-class space pod

Flood dropships

• Flood dispersal pod