Crane Class Dropship

Designed in YE 01, the RHI-T1 Crane (丹頂鶴 (dāndǐng hè) in Lianjia Speech is the proper name of the craft) is a Ryu-Mizumitsu Clan workhorse small craft they have kept to themselves. In YE 43, it was upgraded and redesigned to provide heavy-lift capabilities for militaries and commercial interests. It entered service in the same year. Sales to the public started in YE 46.

Needing a heavy-lift dropship, Ryu-Mizumitsu Clan designed the RHI-T1 Crane Dropship in YE 01. The Ryu-Mizumitsu since then have used the design largely for internal use due to the reduced cost of just making it instead of buying designs from other corporations. Most have been lost or scrapped over the years due to various reasons such as war and cutting business expenses. In YE 42, with the need for a multi-functional dropship increasing as the old business alliance of the clan was partially recreated with the Ryu Keiretsu, it was decided to revive the old workhorse once again.

The Crane is notable for its heavy-lift capabilities.

The RHI-T1 Crane is designed to provide the following:

• Logistics
• Strategic Airlift
• Tactical Airlift
• Troop Transport/Ferrying Personnel

The Crane is a sleek design with a fighter-like front end making use of Transparent Durandium for cockpit “glass”. The body widens past the cockpit with a slightly humped top that accommodates both engineering related systems (air intakes) and the height of the ship's cargo hold. Large folding wings extend past the large intakes of the forward engine pods to the sides of the ship.

The rear of the Crane extends above and beyond the cargo bay. A cowl protects the rear engine pods that are capable of moving 100 degrees (10 up, 90 down) and provide thrust vectoring. The cargo bay main entrance meets up to the middle of this section at an angle.

General notes about ship stats and performance

Crew: 3 operators (Pilot, Co-Pilot, and Crew Chief) are recommended, but only 1 is required to operate the RHI-T1. The Crew Chief also acts as the shuttle's loadmaster and flight engineer.

Maximum Capacity: 22 (11 on each side) seats are fixed to the sides of the cargo hold's walls. They are strong enough to withstand the weight of most light power armor. Pallets can be used in the centerline of the hold to double this capacity, giving the Crane the ability to carry 44 armored personnel (normally it will be less to make room for other equipment). 27 Star Army of Yamatai Compact Mecha can stand shoulder to shoulder as well.

For lightly armored or unarmored passengers, 15 seat pallets (max of 3) can be used in the centerline. This allows a crane to ferry 67 passengers comfortably. A great deal more can be crammed in, with the life support system rated to carry a max of 200 individuals for 7 days before air quality worsens. But passengers will likely be annoyed with the extreme lack of space long before that.

• Length: 22 meters (Cargo hold is 11 meters)
• Width: 19 meters (Cargo hold is 4.5 meters), wings fold upwards, reducing width to 10 meters.
• Height: 6 meters (Cargo Hold is 4 meters), 9.5 meters if optional tail stabilizers are installed.

• Continuum Distortion Drive: 7,700c
• Hyperspace Fold Drive: 262,980c (0.5ly/m)
  • Maximum distance crossed in a single fold is 20 light years.
  • Charge Cycle:
    • 10 LY or less - 30 seconds
    • More than 10 LY up to 20 LY - 60 seconds
    • 7 minute cool down between folds
• Sublight Engines: 0.25c
• Max atmospheric Speeds (1G environment): 6,174 kilometers per hour (3,836 mph/Mach 5)
• Range: 2 weeks or indefinite with (aether fuel generator)

See Damage Rating (Version 3) for a guide to damage ratings to include.

• Armor: Tier 9
• Shields: Tier 9

The interior of the RHI-T1 Crane is designed to be spartan with ease of maintenance being a priority. The only exception to this is the cockpit, with crew morale being a concern.

The RHI-T1 Crane is split into four parts: cockpit block, service block, cargo bay, and engineering.

The cockpit's displays are a mixture of volumetric projectors and LCD screens that display important information to the two pilots. The pilots sit side by side in the front of the cockpit in chairs that slide back and turn 180 degrees when not in use.

The Crew Chief sits in a station that is located to the left, behind and above the Co-Pilot's seat.

The volumetric projectors can be used by the shuttle's AI (or another plugged in) to display their avatar as well as a data port that can accept a Kamasu Data Chip containing another AI (such as a Savtech JANE).

The crew can communicate mentally with the KAIMON AI either with their Superconductive Quantum Interface Device (SQUID) equipped helmets or another form of neural interface (excluding SPINE interfaces). For individuals without neural interfaces, compatible augmented reality eyewear is also available if the volumetric displays fail.

Located between two air-locked bulkheads with double-sealing doors (one leading to the cockpit and another to the Cargo Bay), it mainly exists to service the shuttle crew. A wet bathroom (toilet/shower) is located within the right paneling of the service block. On the left side, food preparation equipment can be found.

On the sides of the Cargo Bay, 5 sections of 2 foldable chairs are seen. They are strong enough to handle power-armored personnel sitting on them.

Access to the Cargo Bay is achieved via either the rear loading ramp or one of the airlocked doors on each front side to allow egress and ingress of troops as well as quick loading and unloading of supplies. The flooring is made of Durandium Alloy coated with a titanium nanocomposite and industrial diamond for texture, with multiple recessed d-rings for cargo tie-down and rollers to help move standard containers.

The cargo bay is long enough to hold 1 medium SSCS.

The remaining 3 meters above and 1 meters below the cargo bay contains the majority of mechanical components. Two Fusion power plants are located in the back that provide the main power for the shuttle.Helium-3 fuel tanks for all of the fusion and the shuttles FTL drive are also located in the space.

The cover to the engineering section can be easily removed and the section serviced by technicians. Refueling ports are located on the underside of its wings, on the port side of the service block, and an air-refueling port on the top side of the shuttle.

The RHI-T1 Crane makes use of Durandium Alloy for the inner hull and Titanium/Osmiridium nanocomposite laminate for the outer armor. A spaced gap filled with gel between the two provides additional protection to the inner hull from spall created by kinetic impacts. The windows of the cockpit are made with Durandium-T or makes use of the Nepleslian Research and Manufacturing SpectraGuard Visual Interface.

The RHI-T1-1A Crane makes use of the RHI-T1-E4300 Portal class KAIMON installed with a Ryu Systems and Instrument's RaiNE OS based AI. The AI is stored on a tablet that is located on the right side of the cockpit (the pilot position).

In normal operations, the AI uses the shuttle's onboard computer hardware. But in an emergency, the tablet can be used as a backup (although with reduced functionality and a very unhappy AI). Normally the tablet is used for flight checks and other important functions. The AI can be transferred from the tablet with the use of a Kamasu Data Chip.

The Crane’s emergency systems are simple.

• RHI-T1-V4302 Fire Suppression system: The RHI-T1 uses a dry chemical-based fire suppression system, which, in the presence of fire, will spray a dry powder on the source of the fire, displacing oxygen and reacting with any oxidizers rendering them inert and putting out the fire.
• RHI-T1-V4303 Atmospheric retainment system: In the event of a hull breach, door failure, or other events in which the internal atmosphere might vent to vacuum, the shuttle has a retainment system that automatically activates, sealing air in, but allowing more massive objects through.
• RHI-T1-V4304 Crash Bags: Within the cockpit of the Crane, crash bags exist within the volumetric displays that deploy to lessen the injuries of the three crew members.

The RHI-T1-V4300 Life Support System of the Crane Dropship is simple and robust.

• Air-lock bulkhead: between the cockpit, service block, and the cargo hold, there are air-locked double-sealed doors, which allows the troop compartment to be ventilated while retaining an atmosphere in the cockpit and service block. The crew may access the service block even when the troop compartment is ventilated or keep the cockpit isolated from everything should the service block be made accessible from the cargo hold. The doors to the front of the cargo hold on both sides of the craft also have similar double bulkheads.
• Air Scrubber system: A system that scrubs carbon dioxide from the air, converting it back into Oxygen and Carbon. This system operates automatically and utilizes a scrubbing filter system that must be replaced on a yearly basis.
• Atmosphere Controls: The atmosphere of the cargo hold is controlled. Should there be a need, the standard O2/Nitrogen atmosphere can be replaced with a number of exotic atmospheres. This can be done due to special requirements for cargo or truly alien species passengers.
• Water Generation and Filtration
• Artificial Gravity

Making use of Ryu Heavy Industries' Fusion Plasma Drive technology, 4 of the RHI-T1-P4300 drives are located in nacelles (1 in each wing and 2 to the rear). The same RHI-T1-R4300 anti-gravity system used to generate artificial gravity and provide gravimetric shielding is also used to keep the Crane afloat when conducting landings and flying VTOL or at low speeds where the craft's wings lose lift.

FTL propulsion is provided by a RHI-T1-P4301 CD Drive with Mizu II Series Continuum Distortion Drives, Type 42 (Ripple II) components. While vastly slower than standard CDDs, the P4301 provides the Crane CFS shielding. The unit's coils are located in the upper back of the Crane.

Crane's RHI-T1-S4300 makes use of conformal electrostatic and gravimetric shielding for defense when located within an atmosphere and a backup to the Ripple II's CFS defensive systems.

The Crane typically does not have any weapons, relying on escorts if carrying important individuals or cargo. Though the crane can be outfitted with the following weapons:

• 4x Tier 8 rapid-fire coilguns
  • 1 chin-mounted
  • 1 mounted to the sides of the cockpit with 60 degree arc to the front and side
  • 1 mounted to the rear
• 2 weapon hard points under each wing for torpedoes, bombs, external fuel tanks, etc.
• 2 100 cell Magathiel Mini-Missile Cell Vertical Launchers(Defensive/Offensive mini-missiles) on the back of the crane.

Demibear created this article on 2021/01/31 02:49.

Approval Thread: https://stararmy.com/roleplay-forum/threads/crane-class-dropship.71856/