VD-67 Peregrine

VD-67 Peregrine

The is a specialised dropship used by the UNSC Marine Corp for transporting dignitaries, Very Important Persons or the Presidential Staff of the United Earth Government. The VD-67 is a heavily modified version of the EW-67 Hadrian, produced by UAE Systems, chosen by the UNSCMC for use as their VIP transport.

The VD-67 carries many of the defensive systems of other UNSC air and space craft, such as a energy shield generator, a point defence LASER, counter measure launchers and anti-sensor coating. It's two tilting engines are capable of super cruising and capable of going out of atmosphere unaided.

The crew consists of three, with a pilot, copilot and a single crew member for supervising loading and unloading. Inside is space for eight passengers, who can be carried in relatively comfort, in a comfortable, climate controlled room with restricted extranet access and telecommunications. This allows room for dignitaries and a at least one secret service operator.

The Peregrine is used for 'short ranged' missions, usually moving dignitaries across territories safely and quickly, or from ground positions to orbital positions. The Peregrine is very rarely used as a inter-system dropship, instead deferring Air Force One class space craft for dignitary transport.

The 's airframe is constructed from a basis of superplastic-shaped diffusion-adhered metal matrix composites. These light, oxidation resistant light-matrix composites are formed from high modulus and high strength gold doped zirconium oxide fibres and a titanium/aluminium laminate matrix, formed by heat bonding layers of titanium, aluminium and titanium aluminide, forming high strength crystal matrices, the results forming a high strength, yet flexible and light airframe. The skin is formed from four layered plates attached to the frame. The inside layer is a high strength carbon nanotube nanobud mesh composite, which does not melt on re-entry and protects the ship and occupants. Above this is a environmental layer, which regulates internal and external heat, preventing layers from outright melting or freezing, and protecting the occupants. The third layer is a resin bonded layer of structural titanium aluminide with a titanium mesh insert. The fourth layer is a outer layer of AEGIS tiles, built on a non-newtonian shock absorbing layer, providing thermal and oxidation protection. The cockpit and troop bay are situated in titanium-AEGIS compound armoured 'tubs'. These give limited protection against enemy fire. The windscreen is bullet-proof diffusion-bonded self-regenerating stretched-acrylic, with a coating of liquid glass, with a variable electronically controlled gold tinted setting, which protects it from solar rays, laser dazzles and electronic interference. These give limited protection against enemy fire. The skin is painted with thermal diffusing paint, heat controlled hull to generate a black body exterior, infra-red suppressors on the engines, RADAR absorbent paint, liquid glass composites and LASER absorbent laminates, which when compounded with its stealth design, gives it excellent stealth abilities.