MD-80A1 Osprey

AD78A1-TC Cormorant

"Hard to believe you could actually improve this old girl anymore, isn't it?"

- Captain Scott Gillott

The D77I-TC Pelican is the ninth iteration of the venerable Pelican Dropship/Gunship. The I has changed little from the H previously used by the UNSCMC but what few changes increased its capability heavily.

Over previous models it is both more heavily armoured, faster, greater of carrying heavier weights and a much more potent vessel.

Crew
The D77I is crewed chiefly by three crew members. A pilot, responsible for piloting and direct fire weapons, a weapons officer/tactical officer, who is responsible for the nose gun and a number of other weapon sytesm, along with sensors, electronic warfare systems and guidance and a crew chief, who operates the rear doors, troop bay, vehicle latch, rear guns and overwatches loading and unloading. Alternately, the whole pelican, par the rear gun, could be operated by a single AI.

Avionics
The primary flight control is powered by triple redundant fly by light fibre optic controls ran through flight computers. It is completely autoassisted due to the unstable nature of the profile of the D77, preventing the pilot from disabling it and loosing all control. The Computer controls and adapts all the engine nozzles to allow optimum VTOL flight and stability.

The controls for the pilot are relatively conventional left control stick and right throttle, with both containing appropriate command and control buttons for activation self defences and avionic systems.

The autopilot ability is incredibly potent for a ship of this class, being able to use it for just about any kind of sortie. It can direct the aircraft take off, landing, flight, evasion and docking. However, it does not have facilities to use the weaponry onboard.

The pilot is supported by a wide, high visiblity holographic Heads Up Display, providing all flight information, sensor feeds, weaponry checklisting and other support features, along with a direct voice inteface system where with the thumb of a control stick button, the pilot can input direct commands to the onboard computer, which will preform the function, with a 99.99% reliability, by reading through the pilot's boom microphone.

Its communication gear consists of a wideband and encoded radio and SATLINK communication gear, with wide range, frequency hopping, adaptive spectrum frequencies and anti interception systems, giving high quality video and audio links.

Its navigation is handled by a advance GPS system, inertial guidance and laser operated gyroscopes.

Armament
The primary armament of the D77I is the nose gun, a 20mm chaingun capable of high rates of fire. It is fed with a dual feed of armour peircing and high explosive rounds, giving the weapons officer a choice of firing methods. The 20mm gun is targeted by the TADS/PNVS, giving the user a range of options for identifying and engaging targets. When not in use, it is kept in a unfolding canopy on the nose, Along with that, it has six pylons, three pylons to a wing, capable of taking a rocket, missile or gun pod. Rocket pods include a TUSK Launcher that carries 16 rockets, a INCISOR launcher carrying 8 rockets, a PINCER launcher carrying 4 missiles, a TSAM launcher carrying 3 missiles, a single BARB or two CLAW missile or a M41B LAAG or a 20mm autocannon can also be carried. Its final weapon is a rear mounted AIE-486I Heavy Machine Gun, mounted on a bracket and hidden in a recess on the roof of the cabin at the rear entrance. It folds down allowing the Crew Chief to deliver heavy machine gun cover to embarking or disembarking troops

Stealth Features
Despite its somewhat slab sideded and rounded features, efforts to increase it's stealth properties have been made. The engine intakes have been shielded, cold air bleeders on the exhausts help in hiding emissions, laser absorbent skin coatings provide some defence against LIDAR and laser targetted systems and lastly, it possess radar absorbent paint. This has reduced its overall RADAR cross section to 3.6 meters from all directions, a miracle considering its shape.

However, despite this, the airframe naturally heats up, especially during atmosphereic entry or reentry, meaning it produces a highly visible infrared signature after long flight durations or during transatmospheric trips.

Counter Measures
The primary countermeasure of the D77I is the 80 or so DECEPTION Countermeasure launchers it carries, which fires a range of smoke, chaff and flare countermeasures, hoping to confuse all possible tracking systems. It also possess a CARAPACE Dual Active Protection System for close in defence against Fuel Rod Guns and direct chemical munitions. Lastly, the BELLIGERENT ECWS, while largely for aiding ground forces, acts as a protective system for the dropship itself.

It's last defensive system is a pair of M980 Weapon Anti Ordnance/Anti Material Defence Weapons, one close to the nose, one close to the tail. These are kept within the airframe in receeding hatches when at crusing speeds and transatmosphereic travel and deploy manually when the speed lowers, allowing them to counter ground missile systems. All are operated autonomously from the Area Defence and Interception System.

Sensors
The primary sensor of the D77I is a millimeter wave RADAR in the nose of the aircraft, which operates both as ground reading and forward facing, allowing it to identify aircraft directly ahead and targets on the ground, along with mapping them. This is supported by two flat pane RADARS on each side of the aircraft which scan to the sides and rear, giving a roughly spherical view of the aircraft. All RADARs can operate doppler and pulse, against ground targets and air targets respectively. These allow it to map its surroundings, detect aircraft 200km away, detect missiles up to 100km away and provide threat detection and target acqusition for missile ordnance and onboard weaponry. This information can be directed to marine ground teams, providing support and early warning. The forward RADAR also acts as the fire control, though that can be passed to the other RADARS in situations where it may occur.

All these systems are fed into the ADIS and flight computer, providing the pilot with defensive options when threatened, early warning and mapping of the combat area.

Optics wise, the main optical viewing system, outside of mark 1 eyeballs of the pilots, provided by the wide window, is the Target Acqusition and Desigation System/Pilot Night Vision System linked directly to the 20mm gun, hidden in the nose canopy and slaved into the weapon officer's helmet, providing a holographic image fed from the camera, controlled through his head movements and targetting system changed by a simple press of a button on his control stick. The system has a thermal imaging system, a laser ranger finder, a full colour TV camera, a LIDAR system and a night vision camera. It can idetinfy almost 300 targets, infantry and vehicle, and engage them.

Along the sides it carries several pairs of short range thermal and monochrome TV cameras with steadied autotracking and display systems. It can lock onto one target designated by the weapons officer and by passing from one camera to another, maintain a optical lock.

All optics can be switched through the weapon officers HUD, put on one of the screens in the cockpit or put on the main HUD.

Electronic Countermeasures and Warfare
The role of the D77I was expanded to full support of ground operations, including Electronic Warfare. It could guide and direct ground combat units while similtaneously hampering enemy units. This was all done through the BELLIGERENT Eletronic Counter/Warfare System. This onboard computer, directed through the weapon officer along with onboard system, feeds the Pelican's information into the UNSC War Net and gives ground teams access to the information of the RADAR, LIDAR and optic results of the TADS/PNVS. This allows Pelicans to direct and help Marine combat teams in engaging the enemy, providing more than just gunship support. Along with that, it is provided with a RADAR tow, a small snub winged, aerodynamic and armoured RADAR held on a long tow cable, fourty nine meters in length. This acts as a target for RADAR and jam homing missiles, providing a RADAR to replace that of the Pelicans, protecting it. It beams out a RADAR and radio jamming signal, but also, feeds in false coordinates and 'laser dazzles' from a onboard LIDAR, severly effecting enemy missiles.

Armour and Airframe
he D77I frame is constructed from superplastic-formed diffusion-bonded metal matrix composites. These light, oxidation resistant matrix composites are formed from high modulus, high strength gold and chrome doped zirconium oxide reinforced fibres and a titanium aluminide matrix. The skin is formed from four layerd plates attached to the frame. The inside layer is a carbon composite bonded to the middle layer of single crystal carbon, which does not melt on reentry and protects the ship and occupants. The third layer is a ceramic outer layer providing themral and oxidation protection. The top layer is a composite buffer system, with a depleted uranium mesh insert. The troop bay and the cock pit are situated in titanium alluminide 'tubs'. These give limited protection against enemy fire. The windscreen is bullet-proof diffusion-bonded stretched-acrylic.

The survivability of the airframe is legendary, as it was for it's predecessors. It is capable of surviving crashes reltaively intact at low speed and low altitude. The ruggedness of the Pelican is legendary, with it being atmospheric flight capable even on one engine and only the crew onboard, or even with a whole entire naccele of wing or both missing. As well as being hardened against electromagnetic effects, it its covered in a sensor network that reports directly to the pilot's damage computer, meaning any and all damage is immediately detected and analysed. This prevents the pilot from unwittingly attempting to take a transatmospheric trip or exceed Mach 2 with hull damage that could sheer the craft apart.

Powerplant and Engines
The Pelican features two powerful UAE made X-133 Turbines, providing the majority of the forward thrust. These powerful variable ramjet engines feature a variable inlet spike. During atmosphereic flight, these are left open, allowing air into the engine, where fuel is injected under pressure and combusted in the chamber. The inlet spike can move to make the inlet narrower or wider, conversly making the speed higher or lower. However, to achieve transatmospheric travel, where air is not availible, it closes the inlet spike then adds a oxidative to the fuel, turning the jet engine into a rocket engine. This is not fuel effecient but allows it to travel in vacumns and at high speeds. The four UAE XV-177 VTOL engines provide tilting engines with variable inlets, with heavy engine shields providing tilting nozzles. This gives it excellent hovering ability, excellent upwards thrust and upwards, sideways back wards VTOL motions. Each turbine has a main engine and a nozzle that bleeds some of the thrust down to the VTOL engine, that gives it downwards thrust. Each engine has the ability to tilt the main outtake up or down then further tilt the up and down nozzle, along with the variable thrust which varies by forcing more thrust downwards by a steadily rising shield in side the engine, with the VTOL engines being capable of vectoring from left to right.

The enigines are triple redundant and by the sheer number of them, allow the aircraft to fly with half of them disabled.

The sheer power of the engine enables travel at mach 3 at the maximum, though this is unusually done due to the extreme stress it puts on the airframe. It is quite capable of travelling at supersonic speeds with good stability, though high-g manoeuvres at these speeds will also cause considerable stress on the airframe.

Other features
The D77I possess a number of other small features that are critical to it's design. It features a pressurized cockpit and sealed door, meaning a hull breach in one section protects the other. Conversly, it allows the rear section to become a airlock. The cockpit also features a holotank and AI interface with a super conducting weave, allowing a AI to be installed and interface with the craft. It features triple redundant hydraulic landing gear which can be actived by a 'gravity drop, where they are released and allow a mixture of gravity and wind resistance pull them into position, where they lock. The back door, complete with bullet proof window, is sealed and driven by hydraulics and can be released by pulling the locks with the emergency cord or pull the emergency release that releases the whole entire door. It features a emergancy release hatch on the roof of the cabin and ejector seats for the pilot and weapons officer, though the crew chief and any occupants in the rear must ditch manually.