The BlackWasp Assault Transport: Or how using the Raptor for everything is really stupid.

To explain the Genesis of the BlackWasp program, we need to return to what was probably the worst case of multi-role design in history.

The humble Raptor.

Those Raptor pilots among you, I know this will be hard to hear... but your bird sucks as a military craft.

Currently, we use Raptors as Transports, Gunships, AWACS, Anti-shipping, recon, planetary survey to name the most notable.

This is a 50-ton craft that is also intended for in-atmosphere operations without the necessary flight surfaces to do it efficiently.

Possibly worst of all, these roles are all possible by the Base model without major modification. If they were all separate variants it would make sense, but the designers decided to throw all this onto one spaceframe.

How does this all link to the BlackWasp I hear you ask?

Because right after procuring the Raptor, our remaining heavy-lift craft reached the end of life, so the bean counters decided to delay the procurement of a replacement in favor of expanding the Raptor fleet.

That left us with one light-lift craft that tries to do everything at once and fails to be good at one thing, and one medium-lift militarised civilian transport, the Phoenix.

Thankfully, an end-of-life replacement had been in the works though it took a few years for the Brass to realize investing everything in a platform that can't even carry a squad was a bad idea.

Enter the BlackWasp-A, a dedicated intra-atmospheric assault transport with cargo capacity in spades. It has two jobs, being capable of transporting a platoon in full gear with attached equipment into hostile airspace and surviving the insertion.
The BlackWasp-C is the dedicated cargo model, with heavy-lift capability factoring in internal and underslung cargo hardpoints.

In the A configuration, the BlackWasp is outfitted with heavier armor, defensive guns, and a modular nose turret for a variety of mounted weapons.
These are weapons for SECURING a landing or exfil zone, not for playing as a Gunship and attacking hard targets.

The BlackWasp is first and foremost a troop transport, so remember that when you go into the Sims.

Now, if you watch the screen behind me, we'll go into how the BlackWasp is outfitted...

Captain Lance DeValtos, Caprican Army Aeroforce, to a class of BlackWasp pilots and ECO's.

A short one, but this came about from how the Raptor is used for everything... somehow.

From Caprica, we know they have the Phoenix, which seems to be a civilian craft with a militarized version.

Both of those are very much not heavy-lift, it's debatable if the Phoenix is even medium-lift honestly.

Neither of those is big enough to carry Nike (cause she's thicc) so enter the BlackWasp Assault Transport, a craft that is actually designed for Troop Transport duties and can carry more than 8 people.

More importantly for the story, it can fit Nike without having her squished in a corner while still carrying other troopers.

Actually, on Nike's weight, the only info I've found puts her at 1500 pounds, likely much more, which is a lot.