Ships

Elite: Dangerous has several playable **ships**; the developers have notated that a total of 30 playable ships will be available post-release.

## Ship Types

The following is taken from an official dev newsletter. Here is the hierarchy of fleet-class ships that are available to the game’s major factions:

**Cruisers (Battle cruisers, Battleships, Interdictors)**: Long range, independent ships that are capable of controlling entire systems. Heavily armed and capable of deploying large fighter squadrons. The capital ships already shown are an example of this class. In the Empire they are usually known as “Interdictors” – named after the first successful class of cruisers. Currently the most common and most successful is the Majestic class – generally referred to as a “Majestic class Interdictor”. As ships that can also carry out ambassadorial missions they can be used for ‘soft’ power projection, as well as hard.

**Frigates**: These are large ships designed for escort duties. The actual vessels vary greatly between navies, but are all designed to engage multiple small, fast enemies (typically fighters and missile swarms) and are loaded with point defence batteries. They will also have some anti-ship capability, but are not designed to go up against other warships.

**Destroyers**: These are anti-warship vessels, but are generally no longer used in the front line, though some are still in service.

**Carriers**: Designed for the deployment of fighter squadrons. Obsolete in the fleets of the major factions due to the popularity of Cruisers, but small navies still make use of them and some have even been converted into transporters.

**Transporters (Couriers)**: Armoured warships designed specifically for transporting valuable assets and cargo quickly and safely.

**Corvettes (Cutters)**: Light multirole warships, capable of recon, incursions and escort missions. These small warships are also popular with smaller factions, organizations and even wealthy individuals due to their adaptability. The Imperial Cutter is a lighter and faster Corvette-class ship, which players will be able to get their hands on in the final game (assuming they can make the right contacts).

**Fighters**: Small short-range craft that generally cannot operate independently due to having no jump capability. Their main roles include the defense of stations and the large warships that they are deployed from. Commercial fighters are typically jump-capable and are therefore much more flexible than their faction-specific counterparts.

**Drones**: Small automated ships that have largely been phased out due to the existence of effective counter-measures.

## Playable Ships

Anaconda
Adder
Asp Explorer
Cobra Mk. III
Diamondback Scout
Diamondback Explorer
Eagle Mk. II
Federal Dropship
Imperial Clipper
Imperial Courier
Lakon Type-6 Transporter
Lakon Type-7 Transporter
Lakon Type-9 Heavy
Orca
Python
Sidewinder Mk. I
Viper Mk. III
Zorgon Peterson Hauler
Vulture
Fer-de-Lance
## Upcoming Ships

Core Dynamics Corvette
Dolphin
Fer de Lance
Imperial Courier
Panther Clipper
Vulture
Diamondback Scout
Diamondback Explorer
## Non-Playable Ships

Empire Fighter
Majestic Class Interdictor
F63 Condor
Farragut