List of Military Voidcraft Types

This is a **list of voidcraft types** which includes classifications of voidcraft that are currently in use. The list is separated between combatant, auxiliary, and transorbital voidcraft, organized by general classification from largest to smallest for ease of consumption or research. The classifications are mutually exclusive and are imposed, largely, by the international military caeletime community.

## Types of Combatant Voidcraft

### Ships of the Line

 Dreadnought
Also *heavy battleship*
The largest of all warships, dreadnoughts are something of a half-step designation. The true origins of the term are lost to time, but the international consensus is that they are heavily armored, heavily armed, and capable of punishment. In that, they impose dread on those who face them. To accomplish this, however, dreadnoughts must build larger engines, power systems, heat management subsystem, etc. Where the dreadnought stops being useful and becomes a hindrance is specific to each nation that builds and deploys them, but it is also agreed upon that as systems and subsystems continue to scale up the less effective the overall ship performance becomes. There is a fine line between a statement of potent military power and the blustering of national hubris.
* **Pennant prefixes**: B, BD
* **Tonnage range**: 80.000.000–100.000.000 metric tons

 Battleship
The centerpiece of any modern super power, battleships represent the collective military, economic, and political might of a people. Heavily armored and heavily gunned, to take on a battleship in any context is fool-hearty in the extreme. Possessing a division of battleships in an of itself is no a statement of a nation's power, but deploying the division is. Resource-intensive to built, maintain, and operate, battleships are the physical manifestation of a nation's will to achieve victory no matter the cost. For battleships to deploy and operate with the nimbleness of smaller ships takes resources beyond just building them and is nearly a declaration of war on their own.
* **Pennant prefixes**: B, BS, BB
* **Tonnage range**: 50.000.000–80.000.000 metric tons

 Battlecruiser
No less terrifying than a battleship, battlecruisers set aside their protective plating to rely on firepower and speed as their weapons. Primarily, battlecruisers are used to kill-harass battleships and dreadnoughts with their punishing salvos and speed. For all of their deadliness, however, battlecruisers are capable of being overwhelmed by smaller cruisers, frigates, and escorts, in a manner similar to a "death by a thousand cuts." Nearly as expensive as a battleship, resources are poured into munitions, weapons, engines, and fuel systems, and power planets.
* **Pennant prefixes**: B, BC
* **Tonnage range**: 30.000.000–50.000.000 metric tons

### Cruisers

 Armored Cruiser
Also *pocket battleship*
Armored cruisers were an aging sub-classification but have become popular by smaller nations to stand in for their larger counterparts, the fleet cruiser. With more armor than a regular cruiser with the same amount of armaments, the cruiser frame could only provide so much thrust for so long. Their usage in fleet action is largely set aside for littoral battles as squadrons to engage other armored targets, not as pursuit predators like other sub-classifications of cruisers. Expensive to build, cheap to purchase second- or third-hand, armored cruisers appear to only making a resurgence because of its affordability as an obsolete military asset.
* **Pennant prefixes**: C, CA
* **Tonnage range**: 19.000.000–30.000.000 metric tons

 Fleet Cruiser
Another half-step designation, the fleet cruiser is employed by nations unable to put the resources necessary into building capital ships such as battleships or battlecruisers. Because of their expense and strategic value, these cruisers often lead fleets as flagships despite their intended role harassing ships well above its weight class. Without the armor to match ships of the line, fleet cruisers must rely on their weapons, speed, and agility to survive battles with those larger and smaller than themselves.
* **Pennant prefixes**: C, CF
* **Tonnage range**: 17.000.000–24.000.000 metric tons

 Heavy Cruiser
Another aging, fading designation, heavy cruisers are holdovers from an older era and are often bought by smaller nations as larger ones decommission them. Slower than their smaller counterparts, and holding less armor and weapons then their large ones, heavy cruisers are seen as antiquated and largely a waste of their national budgets. As voidborne warships developed, what would be eventually considered a heavy cruiser was run through almost every larger ship designation.
* **Pennant prefixes**: C, CH
* **Tonnage range**: 12.000.000–19.000.000 metric tons

 Cruiser
Standard cruisers, depending on the size and funding of the navy deploying them, stand either as a fast-moving combat elements used to shepherd targets into kill boxes or as heavily armed-and-armored escorts for capital ships. Modest navies will sail cruisers as fleet gunnery centerpieces in squadrons; as single ships, they act as flagships for small attack groups. In massive navies, cruiser squadrons are used as both heavy escorts in defense screens for ships-of-the-line, as well as shepherding combat elements.
* **Pennant prefixes**: C
* **Tonnage range**: 9.000.000–12.000.000 metric tons

 Light Cruiser
Also *cruiser escort*
Like other 'light' vessels, light cruisers are categorically cruisers but without the armor provided to larger, heavier voidcraft within the classification. These ships are capable of higher speeds over shorter time frames and are able to accelerate for longer for the same amount of heat generation. For the weight lost light cruiser keels are incredibly agile for their size, rivaling that of frigates and sometimes even light frigates which is in itself an adequate method of defense. Light cruisers in use are, for modest navies, solitary and long-distant hunters; and for massive navies, heavily armed escort ships for larger vessels, picket ships, and long-distant patrol vessels.
* **Pennant prefixes**: C, CL, CE
* **Tonnage range**: 5.000.000–9.000.000 metric tons

### Frigates

 Heavy Frigate
Blurring the lines between classifications, heavy frigates are both the heaviest voidcraft built around axial-mounted axial railguns (ARGs) as well as capable of lightweight ship roles. They offer large voidbays, impressive operational ranges, and incredibly flexible mission capabilities without costing a nation a cruiser's worth of resources and manpower. With their long reaches, heavy frigates are ideal for large nations that possess considerable territory needing policing patrols. Paired with fast attack craft and corvettes, heavy frigates serve lighter ships as a patrol group flaship capable of refueling, resupplying the ships under their command thus extending the other vessels' operational reach. These voidcraft are too expensive for small nations to build or maintain, especially those requiring only littoral defense.
* **Pennant prefixes**: F, FH
* **Tonnage range**: 3.000.000–5.000.000 metric tons

 Frigate
Frigates are the workhorse of all navies and are most often mixed-armament platform but do offer with a wide range of specialized sub-classifications. An well-rounded vessel overall, frigates maintain littoral security as well as provide much-needed fleet action support for larger vessels. Frigates, too, are not strictly escorts to larger vessels but may provide the centerpiece of small patrol groups during peacetime operations as a mobile base of operations. These voidcraft are capable of handling threats well above their weight class, so long as they are properly supported by other frigates or smaller voidcraft.
* **Pennant prefixes**: F
* **Tonnage range**: 1.500.000–3.000.000 metric tons

 Light Frigate
As a smaller mid-sized ship, light frigates are equipped with more stations than others for efficiency and easy modernization. As the smallest vessels to use torpedo bays, many classes of light frigate are primarily used as torpedo boats as well as anti-missile and torpedo screens with extensive point-defense weapons. Outside of fleet action, these vessels are deployed as policing vessels being equipped with armories for small complements of naval infantry to be heavily armed and armored, though the number of deployable infantry assets depends on the space allotted.
* **Pennant prefixes**: F, FL
* **Tonnage range**: 800.000–1.500.000 metric tons

### Escorts

 Escort
Also *escort ship*, *escortship*, or *heavy destroyer*
Escorts are the dedicated, small-but-heavy hitting vessel upon which the whole fleet is protected. Weapons capable of tracking incoming ordnance as well as the vessels that fired them, the defense screen they provide is invaluable. They work in tandem to destroy incoming munitions when enemies are at range and then shrug through close-quarters encounters for those voidcraft that attempt to close the distance with ships too large to safely engage with smaller combatants. Though intended for dedicated defense screening, escorts have been known to sail in divisions of small nations' navies, capable of easily handling piracy within littoral theaters.
* **Pennant prefixes**: E, ES, DH
* **Tonnage range**: 500.000–800.000 metric tons

 Destroyer
Destroyers are fast, maneuverable, long-endurance warships intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy, or battle group and defend them against powerful short-range attackers. Sailed in pairs (divisions) or threes (squadrons), destroyers bear their axial guns and other heavy armaments that are absent on corvettes or interceptors. Alone, destroyers are vulnerable to larger voidcraft and groups of smaller vessels, but together they become a formidable pack-hunting unit. In large battles, however, their light armor often draws them too much attention as "soft targets". Destroyers make valuable escorts and typically are not found far from at least one other ship or friendly outpost.
* **Pennant prefixes**: D
* **Tonnage range**: 300.000–500.000 metric tons

 Heavy Corvette
Also *destroyer escort*
Bridging the gap between destroyers and corvettes, heavy corvettes do exactly as their corvette brothers do but with more armor and heavier weapons. Heavy corvettes usually host more missiles and heavier turreted guns than corvettes while some are described as "axial guns with voidcraft built around them." When destroyers are not available for escorting ships or convoys, heavy corvettes will act as a group's flagship, excelling at anti-piracy and anti-small craft roles. When in battle formations, heavy corvettes usually act as either heavier anti-fast attack craft or (if armed with an axial weapon) anti-Ship of the Line sniper ships.
* **Pennant prefixes**: K, CRH, DE
* **Tonnage range**: 100.000–300.000 metric tons

 Corvette
A perfect marriage of speed and range, corvettes make up for the interceptor's short legs by increasing its operating range while offering options for heavier armaments. Found across all the Sphere, these small, fast, and agile voidcraft serve their nations by maintaining the peace when away from the fleet. Despite their diminutive size, corvettes are excellent escorts and anti-piracy ships. Typically armed with small missiles and light weight armament, they are best suited for anti-fast attack craft roles in larger fleet battles, lacking the axial guns of larger vessels needed to fight back.
* **Pennant prefixes**: K, CR
* **Tonnage range**: 50.000—100.000 metric tons

*Examples*
* Empire of Thuul Casshani Shipyards *Xaá'lia*-class Corvette

 Fast Attack Craft
Also *interceptor*, *gunship*, *gun cutter*, or *gun-runner*
These versatile and heavy-hitting starships trade operational range with firepower, tackling larger escorts, frigates, and even cruisers in squadrons, like packs of wolves, to distract and harry for larger ships to close distance and finish the fight. While safe in squadrons, singular fast attack craft marry their weapons with a nimble speed and liberal application of maneuverability to raise their odds of survival considerable. These voidcraft can respond across a planetary system to answer problems in the fraction of the time heavier vessels might take, serving as rescue ships, scouts, patrol ships, and policing ships. Often carried by larger voidcraft, they frequently serve as the eyes and ears of an advancing fleet.
* **Pennant prefixes**: K, FAC, IR, GN, GC, GR
* **Tonnage range**: 12.000—50.000 metric tons

*Examples*
* Empire of Gaennaan Nageeye Starwrights *Xukuun*-class Interceptor

### Littoral Defense Voidraft

 Armored Monitors
Also *ironclad*
The largest of the littoral defense ships, armored monitors do what a monitor does but with more armor. Well-armed for littoral defense, monitors usually carry large missile batteries and accurate, slow-firing kinetics from turrets. Monitors' point-defense guns work to protect other vessels and the littoral zones from potential hazards and loose ordnance. Armored monitors are usually kept well within reach of a habitation platform, but when further afield will act as a patrol group's flagship as well as central combat supply vessel with fuel and supplies ready for underway replenishment. Being primarily defense vessels, however, meant for policing, armories are built aboard with extensive equipment for boarding, rescue response, and more.
* Pennant prefixes: M, MDA, MSA
* **Tonnage range**: 30.000—50.000 metric tons

 Monitor
Also *defense monitor* or *system monitor*
The most popular littoral defense voidcraft provides this classification a wide range of armament, equipment, and engagement options that split the monitor into tens of varied sub-classes. Usually utfitted with few turreted weapons, an equivalent in missile batteries, most room is spent on propulsion, supplies, and boarding team armament. Monitors most noteably have relatively tight brigs for those the crew brings aboard. Monitors are faster than most civilian vessels they try to track down.
* **Pennant prefixes**: M, MD, MS
* **Tonnage range**: 20.000—30.000 metric tons

 Gunboat
A defense platform first and a patrol vessel second, gunboats are almost exclusively a littoral defense voidcraft. They are assigned to inhabited zones for defense against natural and active threats with their broad assortment of weapons. Cheap to make, gunboats are almost a heavily weaponized heavy skiffs with armored plating with engines that will struggle to overtake boarding targets.
* **Pennant prefixes**: G, GB
* **Tonnage range**: 12.000—20.000 metric tons

 Patrol Boat
Also *torpedo boat*
The smallest combative vessels available to navies looking for territorial patrol craft capable of inspections, rescue, and defense. Small, well-armed crews man these vessels. Patrol boats are never too far from a monitor or patrol group, and are only meant to be the long, fast reach of a habitation zone or larger vessels like heavy frigates or larger. Fitted with racks for missiles or torpedoes or are fitted with a single turreted point-defense gun, patrol boards can become harassers supporting the actions of their mothership.
* **Pennant prefixes**: P, PB
* **Tonnage range**: 7.000—12.000 metric tons

## Types of Auxiliary Voidcraft

### Logistics Vessels

 Fleet Jumpship
Jumpships are the singular method of transporting men, equipment, supplies, and the very ships they reside within between the stars, and are painstaking endevourss just to consider building. The effort required to assemble a jumpship is nearly a miraculous feat, the resources and manpower alone required to build such a machine are staggering to begin with. Given the voidcraft's intricate machinery, function, and the delicate Gaarane's ichor needed to jump between the stars without disappearing between them, jumpships are considered universally sacred and are kept safe by all parties involved in their creation and sailing. Held well behind the fighting lines, jumpships are considered sacred ground and would rather be commandeered than lost entirely.
* **Pennant prefixes**: J, AJ
* **Tonnage range**: 500.000.000—800.000.000 metric tons, dry

 Storeship
Also *cargo ship*
Concerned only with the movement of bulk goods and materials and their delivery to static facilities or transferring them during underway replenishment operations, storeships have a wide range from small, agile ships to large, lumbering vessels. Whether its food, uniforms, machine parts, weapons, or entire vehicles, storeships will transport its payload to its destination. Military storeships are generally unarmed aside from point defense weapons and counter-missile batteries, requiring an escort of varying size and variety to safely navigate the passage to their destination.
* **Pennant prefixes**: A, AS, AC
* **Tonnage range**: 30.000—40.000.000 metric tons, dry

 Ammunition Ship
Also *firecracker*
Separated from regular storeships, ammunition ships have become popular by militaries as not to jeopardize other cargo required by those who requested them. By setting the ammunition itself into special ships dedicated to their safe handling, auxiliary fleets have potentially saved the lives of their servicepeople but have increased their budgets by a considerable degree.
* **Pennant prefixes**: A, AO
* **Tonnage range**: 1.100.000—14.000.000 metric tons, dry

 Combat Ammunition Ship
Combat ammunition ships are part combative vessel, part cargo ship, part resupply point. Specializing in transporting naval munitions, its hull is reinforced inside and out to carry a navy's teeth and claws to fleets in desperate need of replacement ammunition. To protect its treasure trove of naval munitions, combat ammunition ships are usually armed with turreted main guns as well as point defense weapons and counter-missiles. Regardless of their armament, these resupply-at-sea vessels require an adequate escort to ensure their tempting cargo does not attract the wrong sort of attention.
* **Pennant prefixes**: A, AOE
* **Tonnage range**: 200.000—1.100.000 metric tons, dry

 Fast Combat Storeship
A blending of their larger cousins cargo ships and combat ammunition ships, fast combat support ships are both combative supply vessels and resupply ships. Smaller than either of the other ship-types, fast combat support ships rely on speed to quickly reach fleet ships in need of food, water, weapons, munitions, machine parts, and more. Because of the speeds these ships can reach, usually only the fastest ships can act as escort. Since those fast ships usually are corvettes and already unavailable due to other escorting duties, fast combat support ships often sail alone armed to the teeth to ensure their cargo reaches its destination.
* **Pennant prefixes**: A, ASE-F
* **Tonnage range**: 200.000—600.000 metric tons, dry

 Fleet Space Tug
Fleet space tugs are the modular workhorse of any fleet. Capable of towing or pushing vast quantities of goods across vast distances, space tugs offer the capacity of cargo ships several times their size with unparalleled flexibility. The drawback is speed. Depending on what a fleet space tug is moving, movement may be hindered by the mass of their manifest. The advantage is that only space tugs can move ungainly objects larger than themselves without worrying about damaging either the cargo or the ship. While not the most prevalent ship in any navy, they are a welcomed necessity.
* **Pennant prefixes**: A, TSF
* **Tonnage range**: 100.000—300.000 metric tons

 Fleet Gaaranier
Also *oiler*
Much like fleet oilers of old, gaaraniers provide Gaarane condensate to navy jumpships. Very soft targets, gaaraniers are kept far from battle where they may do their work refueling fleet jumpships in need of replenishment. Like all auxiliary vessels, they are armed with weapons that provide very limited defense screens. Requires an escort to survive any encounter.
* **Pennant prefixes**: A, A-TGF
* **Tonnage range**: 200.000—1.100.000 metric tons, dry

 Mixed-Matter Tanker
Also *collier*
Like the gaaranier, the mixed-matter tanker transports the reactive fuel used in matter-antimatter fusion engines. These vessels also remain far from combat, vulnerable weapons as field generation is its whole priority. Also like the ammunition ship, mixed-matter tankers remain separated from other load-bearing vessels by virtue of the volatile nature of hydrogen-antihydrogen annihilation and the affect an ignition would have on any other supplies within the explosion's reach.
* **Pennant prefixes**: A, A-TMA
* **Tonnage range**: 200.000—1.100.000 metric tons, dry

### Troop Conveyors

 Troopship
Troopships are a straight forward series of vessels: they house, transport, and deploy troops for ground combat. While its common practice to deploy troops with combat vessels, large-scale ground invasions require more than just a fleet of combative voidcraft to properly take beachheads. Troopships are given a detachment of shuttles, dropboats, skiffs, bulk conveyors to make sure their payload reaches a planet's surface. Prepared for deployment under fire, troop ships are often equipped with turreted offensive weaponry as well as point defense weapons and counter-missile batteries. The distinction between troopships and assaultships is the lack of heavier armaments and combative torpedo patrol boats, focusing only on the movement of troops. When not letting loose legions of soldiers, troopships are expected to properly care for their cargo through full meals, medical care, and other appropriate accommodations.
* **Pennant prefixes**: L, LPS
* **Tonnage range**: 800.000—2.000.000 metric tons

 Assaultship
Also *carrier* or *assault carrier*
Despite the name, assaultships are auxiliary fleet voidcraft meant for deploying troops under fire. Still, their importance isn't to be understated: Amphibious assault ships (sometimes referred to as 'amphibs') are beachheading platforms, used to ready the way for a larger force to make landfall. To accomplish this role, they deploy mixed-engagement ground forces with orbital defense support in the shape of patrol boats. Like their troopship cousins, assaultships are armed with turreted offensive weapons, point defense guns, and counter-missile batteries to protect themselves during a combat deployment but with heavier options. Regardless, assaultships require an escort while sailing, unable to hold its own in a fight.
* **Pennant prefixes**: L, LPA
* Tonnage range: 600.000—1.000.000 metric tons

 Dropship
Also *landing ship* or *lander*
While also the largest vertical-takeoff single-stage to orbit (VT-SSTO) voidcraft, dropships are also capable of interplanetary travel. These vessels are built like all voidcraft (as if a skyscraper) and resemble the skiff, but with far more capacity for troop transport. Dropships are capable of large, battalion-level interplanetary and transorbital conveyance with the supplies, munitions, fuels, and electronic warfare support for beachhead landings. They are obvious 'soft targets.' unfortunately, and their loss represents more than just a destroyed transport but the lives of every soldier aboard as well. With this in mind, orbitmasters will, almost without exception, only deploy dropships once orbital dominance is secured.
* **Pennant prefixes**: L, LDR
* **Tonnage range**: 16.000—50.000 metric tons

### Fleet Servicers

 Tender
Also *repairship*
Starship tenders, as their name suggests, repair damaged ships out at sea. Ready with a small army of specialists, replacement parts, and equipment, starship tenders strike out with combat fleets auxiliary flotillas to see to immediate repairs required before damaged ships can limp back to port for more in-depth repairs. Starship tenders often work in a minor rescue capacity during peacetime, reporting to ships in trouble in order to help them reach a port without succumbing to sustained injuries. Though not combat vessels, tenders are equipped with point defense weapons and counter-missile batteries to ward off attempts to destroy them.
* **Pennant prefixes**: A, AR, AT
* **Tonnage range**: 300.000—2.000.000 metric tons

 Hospital Ship
Also *medical ship* or *medical support ship*
Hospital ships are the sacred angels of the naval world, built in order to nurse the injured to health or ease the suffering of the lost. By order of international caeletime laws, hospital ships are entirely unarmed as a physical representation of neutrality but are allowed a small fleet of defense-screen boats to defend against debris and other collision risks. Attacking a hospital ship is almost universally considered a war crime and no combat is to take place within several hundred-thousand kilometers of its position. Because of their international protections, most hospital ships sail without escort during wartime but are almost always moored in their homeport during peacetime—unless a catastrophe require their aid.
* **Pennant prefixes**: H, AH
* **Tonnage range**: 300.000—1.100.000 metric tons

 Heavy Service Harbor Tug
Heavy service harbor tugs are labeled as starships because of their size and power, capable of gently guiding even dreadnoughts into harbor in relatively small numbers, despite only having the power to remain as littoral service. They use specially designed bumpers and manipulating arms to nudge starships toward their final destinations, making extensive use of the powerful attitude thrusters to make the perfect mooring possible and often requiring AI helmsmen to coordinate effortlessly.
* **Pennant prefixes**: Y, TH
* **Tonnage range**: 30.000—100.000 metric tons

### Special Voidcraft

 Dispatch Ship
Also *avios*
Armed, armored, slower military courier ships, dispatch ships are currently being phased out of most modern militaries for its obsolete status in the face of the smaller, faster, and more reliable military courier. Smaller nations are buying these vessels at great prices, but like with other vessels, these voidcraft sales do not equate to a resurgence of service-interest.
* **Pennant prefixes**: A, ACC-E
* **Tonnage range**:

 Military Courier
Also *fast packet ship*
Military couriers, sometimes known as "fast packet ships," are the sprinters of any navy when compared to the rest of the fleet. These vessels are equipped with some of the most complex and highest quality matter-antimatter engines allowing these voidcraft to achieve the greatest levels of thrust and with it, the highest possible apparent speeds. With their complex engine designs, couriers have been known to cost as much as some destroyers and even cruisers while barely massing that of a corvette. To maximize space for large data storage drives and sensitive physical cargo, little room is left for crew comforts and weaponry. Some nations forgo armament all together, relying on the ships speed to outrun would be aggressors and keep the already high costs down. Despite the somewhat prohibitive prices of these special couriers, they are essential to the consistent, coherent communications between a nation's military forces spread across human space.
* **Pennant prefixes**: A, ACC-F, APS-F
* **Tonnage range**: 30.000—50.000 metric tons

## Types of Transorbital Voidcraft

Also *orbital runners* or *runnercraft*

 Lighter
Also *bulk lander*/*conveyor*
Lighters are VT-SSTO voidcraft defined by their capability of lifting great quantities of bulk goods between orbital and terrestrial destinations. Lighters are not only used for transorbital conveyance, they are also used as inter-vessel or cargo transfer from vessel to stellar platform. They are dedicated cargo transports and are most often seen billeted on storeships, ammunition ships, combat ammunition ships, and fast combat supply ships as it requires a mothership to be ferried between interplanetary locations. Though they is not designed to ferry troops to and from the surface of a planet, lighters will work in a tight spot.
* **Pennant prefixes**: T, L, AL-L, AT-BC
* **Tonnage range**: 9.000—16.000 metric tons

 Skiff
Also *dropsskiff*, *admiral's barge*, or *military pinnace*
As the smallest VT-SSTO voidcraft in the Sphere, skiffs are capable of lifting personnel, equipment, and supplies between orbital and terrestrial destinations. Skiffs require mothership to be ferried between interplanetary locations, however, as their engines and fuel tanks restrict it to grueling transorbital or stellar hauling between a ship and the port its anchored away from.
* **Pennant prefixes**: T, ATS
* **Tonnage range**: 7.000—9.000 metric tons

*Examples*
* Empire of Gaennaan Ghuulam Transorbital G-M727 *Baaran*-class Assault Gunskiff

 Dropboat
Also *superlift space plane* or *shuttle-boat*
Dropboats are SSTO voidcraft generally defined by delta-wing designs and trans-atmospheric operation used to transport personnel, equipment, and supplies between orbital and surface sites. Military purposes place dropboats being roughly capable of moving company-strength combatant units, and are incapable of engaging with combative roles lest they be shot out of the sky so to speak. Dropboats, without exception, require mothership to be ferried between interplanetary locations. Because of its aerodynamic design, it is able to enter the atmosphere of a planet and fly toward its destination, often negating the need for complete orbital superiority to deploy troops and equipment. Despite dropboats commonly possessing tilt-turbine vertical takeoff-and-landing (VTOL) engines for tight landings and takeoffs, they are not capable of the same sort of vertical lift that push drive skiffs, bulk conveyors, and dropships have.
* **Designators**: TO/B, DRP-B
* **Tonnage range**: 2.000—7.000 metric tons

*Examples*
* Empire of Gaennaan Hiraaj Aeronautics H-M780 *Rejjhit*-class Dropboat

 Shuttle
Also *space plane* or *awayboat*
Shuttles are like their dropboat cousins in that they are SSTO voidcraft and are, generally, possess VTOL tilt-jet turbine engines and are defined by delta-wing designs. Trans-atmospheric in nature, shuttles are used to transport small amounts of personnel, equipment, and/or supplies between orbital and surface sites. Because of its aerodynamic design, it is able to enter the atmosphere of a planet and fly toward its destination, often negating the need for complete orbital superiority to deploy troops and equipment. For military purposes, shuttles are said to moving, roughly, mid-platoon/platoon-strength combatant units. Shuttles require, without exception, a mothership to be ferried between interplanetary locations.
* **Designators**: TO/S, DRP-STL
* **Tonnage range**: 800—2.000 metric tons

*Examples*
* Empire of Gaennaan Hiraaj Aeronautics S-K990 *Jibiki*-class Shuttle