UT-47 Kodiak Drop Shuttle
Overview
The Utility Transport 47 Kodiak Drop Shuttle Landing Craft, abbreviated to the UT-47 Kodiak Drop Shuttle, is a versatile, FTL capable, cortragravitic, single stage surface-to-orbit, space-to-ground, vertical take of and landing personnel carrier in service with the Human Systems Alliance since 2162. The vehicle is responsible for ferrying personnel and equipment between ships and plants in situations where said ships are incapable of landing or docking.
Offcially named the Kodiak, the drop shuttle is better known as the "Combat Cockroach" by Alliance marines due to it's carapace-like
appearance and extreme durability. The vehicle's robust environmental sealant technology exposes few vulnerable parts to the elements. First tested in the sulfuric acid clouds and extreme temperatures of Venus, the Kodiak can withstand hard vacuum, high pressure of upto 1000 Earth atmospheres and temperatures from near-absolute to over 900 degrees Celsius.
A true cortragravitic vehicle, the Kodiak achieves lift by completely countering it's own mass. It's thrusters are for maneuverability and stability only. This make the Kodiak as maneuverable in atmosphere as it would be in space, however flying the shuttle during atmospheric combat requires considerable skill. The pilot must reduce the vehicle's mass to improve speed and handling, while maintaining enough mass to withstand weapons fire and inclement weather. There have been many cases where pilots have over stressed the Kodiak's field generators and ended up on the battlefield instead of above it.
Though originally designed for the Systems Alliance, the UT-47 Kodiak has since been sold to allies, recovered by enemies and had it's specifications stolen by spies. In one form or another, this durable transport is now used in all corners of the galaxy.
Dimensions
The Kodiak is 15.7 meters in length, 8 meters in width and 3.2 meters in hight. It's mass is 56 metric tonnes.
It's troop bay measures 4.6 meters in length, 7.8 meters in width and 2.1 meters in height.
Hull and Superstructure
The Kodiak's design is utilitarian in nature. Made as compact as possible, it had often been described as resembling a flying brick.
On it's exterior hull are 18 mm of Ablative Ceramic-11 Armour plating with strips of pure ceramic on the exterior as part of it's Defused Radiator Array(DRA) heat dispersion system.
The Kodiak's cockpit seat a pilot and copilot side by side and is separated from the troop bay by a vacuum rated bulkhead blast door.
The troop bay is equipped with seating and an armoury. With a vacuum rated, hinged troop bay door on each side of this compartment. Later variants replaced the hinges with a sliding mechanism.
Directly behind the troop bay is the tail, containing most of the Kodiak's communications and electric Eeuipment.
The most recognisable aspect of the Kodiak are it's 4 large, box shaped, articulating thruster nacelles. two retrograde nacelles on each side of the cockpit and two prograde nacelles beneath the tail.
Crew
The Kodiak is crewed by two personnel, who occupy the cockpit at the front end of the Kodiak. The pilot sits on the left side. With the co-pilot on the right. Though the shuttle can easily be piloted by a single pilot, with enough experience.
The Kodiak has a polarised window on each door on the troop bay, but no windows at the front in order to protect the pilot from being taken out and crashing the shuttle. Instead the pilot can usesvirtual windows projected into the cockpit from multiple external cameras at the front. This feature is almost never utilised as the various radar, ladar, motion trackers and thermographic sensors of the Kodiak provide the pilot all the visual aid they need.
The controls of the Kodiak are digital, holographic interfaces, utilising haptic adaptive interface technology. With no manual back-ups.
The Kodiak's on-board Hudson-class Virtual Intelligence optimises stability. Adjusting thrusters and mass effect fields based on the shuttles environment, attitude and cargo.
The troop bay has the capacity and storage to transport and arm upto 12 fully armoured marines.
As the Kodiak lacks external armament, it's become common for marines to open the troop bay doors during flight to fire at enemies. This tactic is considered against regulation as it creats a sizable gap in both the shields and armour, exposing the vulnerable interior to return fire.
Kinetic
The UT-47 Kodiak has one of the most robust kinetic barrier systems in the Alliance. Consisting of mass repulsive fields projected from tiny emitters on the shuttle's exterior. A projectile traveling above a certain velocity will trigger the barrier's reflex system and be deflected.
The Kodiak's powerful shielding, allows it to withstand large amounts of damage before going down. It can even survive several direct hits from anti-tank and anti-air weapons before the barriers are penetrates.
Propulsion and Power
The Kodiak is powered by a hydrogen/oxygen fuel cell, consisting of two electrodes -- a negative electrode (or anode) and a positive electrode (or cathode) -- sandwiched around an electrolyte. Hydrogen is fed to the anode, and air is fed to the cathode. A catalyst at the anode separates hydrogen molecules into protons and electrons, which take different paths to the cathode. The electrons go through an external circuit, creating a flow of electricity. The protons migrate through the electrolyte to the cathode, where they unite with oxygen and the electrons.
The primary component of the Kodiak is it's small, yet powerful, Element Zero Drive Core.The Drive generates dark energy by running an electric current through the Element Zero at it's heart. This dark energy flows to the mass effect field generators which convert the raw energy into fields for practical use. This powers the shields and the gravity plating inside the shuttle. It also gives the vehicle short-range FTL capabilities. However, it's most important function is reducing the vehicle's mass to the point that it quite literally becomes lighter than air
Though this provides the lift, it does not provide motive power. This is provided by 2 prograde and 2 retrograde articulating antiproton thrusters. Antiproton thrusters work by injecting antiprotons into a chamber of hydrogen. The resulting matter-antimater annihilation provides unmatched motive power.
To keep the Kodiak level during flight and during take-offs and landings, the vehicle is equipped with 4 Liquid hydrogen/Liquid oxygen RCS thrusters on it's ventral side.
Variants
There are 2 notable variants of the UT-47 Kodiak Drop Shuttle
The U-47 - an experimental varient of the Kodiak field tested in 2183. A pair of these were used to defend the colony of Fehl Prime.
This variant was striped down and far faster and more maneuverable than the UT-47. It's design was more curved and aerodynamic. With two ailerons on the tail. The ventral thrusters were removed to reduce weight. To compete, the main thrusters could rotate a full 160 downward, rather than the regular 45 on the UT-47.
The U-47 also featured two side mounted M-394 Mass Accelerator cannons for air support and anti-vehicle purposes capable of full 360 rotation. Allowing the cannons to shoot at targets behind the shuttle. As this would block the doors from opening, the U-47 featured a single rear troop bay door rather than the two side doors.
The design had one flaw, however. In order to be as fast and maneuverable as it was, the U-47 was heavily striped down. With almost no armour or shields. Making it vulnerable to even the most basic of anti-vehicle weapons. Unsurprisingly, the shuttle was never used again.
The UT-47A - Rather than redesigning the shuttle, the Alliance opted rather to modify it. The UT-47A featured an upgraded Element Zero core and prototype Internal Emissions Sink stealth technology. The M-394 cannons were added to the UT-47A, but rather than moving the side mounted troop bay doors, the shuttle swapped the hinged doors for sliding ones.
Though opening the troop bay door too shoot from was against regulation, the practice proved too useful to not do. So the Alliance decided to at least provide troops with better firepower. Inside the troop bay is a fold up M-76 Razor turret. A rail on the troop bay floor is used to position the turret infront of the door when needed.
