Condor (DropShip class)

This article is about the troop transport. For the hover tank, see Condor (Combat Vehicle).
Condor TRO3057r.png
Condor
Production information
Manufacturer Hinsdale Elec[1]

Nimakachi Fusion Products Limited[1]

Production Year 2801[2]
Use Troop carrier
Type Military Aerodyne
Tech Base Inner Sphere
Technical specifications
Mass 4,500 tons
Structural Integrity 9
Length 104[3] meters
Width 97.4[3] meters
Height 36.1[3] meters
Drive System Pitban 1350-XRB[3]
Safe Thrust 1.5 g
Max Thrust 2.5 g
Fuel (tons) 208 tons
Fuel (days) 113 days
Armament
Armor 33 tons
Fore: 15
Sides: 13
Aft: 12
Crew 24[4]
  • 4 Officers
  • 17 Enlisted
  • 3 Gunners

(Crew Types)[5]

  • 2 Pilots
  • 4 Engineers
  • 20 Secondary Engineers

Bay Personnel: 436

Escape Pods/Life Boats 8/10
Heat Sinks 70
BV (1.0) 2,505[6]
BV (2.0) 2,579


Description[edit]

One of the largest DropShips designed purely to transport infantry, the Condor-class is able to deliver a fully equipped infantry battalion to the battlefield.

The Condor is a military aerodyne design. Its wings are extremely sturdy and less susceptible to control surface damage than those of other aerodyne DropShips.[7] The wings are crisscrossed with structural bracing and contain fuel bunkers, weapon bays, and landing gear, but also considerable "dead" space, accessible via a series of passageways, which the Condor crew rarely reveal to others and reserve for up to ten tons of "off the record" cargo.

As infantry carriers go, the Condor features unusually spacious barracks-style quarters for its infantry troops, as well as a very well-equipped medical facility for the ship's size which can handle six emergency cases simultaneously.[7]

Armament[edit]

Like many troop carriers, the Condor features a merely adequate weapons array, with a single PPC, LRM-15, AC/5, and twin medium lasers mounted in the nose, with an AC/5, two Large Lasers and two medium lasers carried in forward facing mounts in each wing. A single large laser and two more mediums ward the rear, while four tons of autocannon munitions and three tons of missile reloads provide reasonable endurance during combat.

Cargo[edit]

On paper, the Condor features four-hundred-tons of total cargo capacity, divided between facilities to carry 336 infantrymen (12 platoons), and up to twenty light combat vehicles to carry them, with ten tons of "off the record" storage capacity in the wings.

Variants[edit]

  • Dove 
    After the Fourth Succession War, about two dozen Condors have been converted to hospital ships, with the cargo bays replaced with treatment wards for 150 patients and 75 medical staff and the operating theaters expanded to allow up to ten surgeries performed simultaneously. Of these vessels, which have been nicknamed Doves, ComStar fields twelve, while the remainder is distributed among the various Successor State fleets.[8]
  • Stork 
    Prior to the upheavals of the Word of Blake Jihad, Nimakachi was scheduled to release a purpose-built civilian cargo carrying version of the Condor to be named the Stork.[9] By 3079, the Stork was in production at their Dalton factory.[10]
  • Upgrade 
    First introduced in 3054 by Nimakachi, the upgraded Condor switches the PPC and Large Laser for extended range models and adds Artemis IV FCS to the LRM launcher. While the heat sinks were replaced with Double Heat Sinks, the proximity of the PPC to the missile launcher caused the Artemis system to malfunction, resulting in the movement of the heat sinks to cope in models launched after late 3055. BV (1.0) = 2,549,[11] BV (2.0)= 2,841

See Also[edit]

Notes[edit]

  • In German products, the unit's proper name was translated to Kondor.

Gallery[edit]

References[edit]

  1. 1.0 1.1 DropShips and JumpShips: ComStar Intelligence Summary, p. 17
  2. MUL online date for the Condor (DropShip class)
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 DropShips and JumpShips: ComStar Intelligence Summary, p. 35
  4. Technical Readout: 3057 Revised, pp. 38-39, "Condor Ship Profile"
  5. BattleSpace rulebook, p. 63
  6. AeroTech 2 Record Sheets, p. 230
  7. 7.0 7.1 DropShips and JumpShips: ComStar Intelligence Summary, p. 34
  8. Technical Readout: 3057, p. 40
  9. Handbook: House Marik, p. 134: "New Class of DropShip to be produced by Dalton shipyards by 3069"
  10. Objectives: Free Worlds League, p. 17
  11. AeroTech 2 Record Sheets, p. 231

Bibliography[edit]