Sketches – deWulf Combat Dropship

In service since the beginning of the deWulf Navy, the Mark-12 dropship has been the backbone of dedicated heavy lift capacity for the navy in every theater and operation. Initially prototyped as an open-cycle fusion drive craft for intercontinental rapid deployment, the development of the drive field instead transformed it into a broad-function troop and equipment hauler.

Developed and manufactured by deWulf Heavy Industries (dWHI) subsidiary Kolmar RaumWerke, the Mark-12 features heavy duty construction and a rugged frame overlaid with BattlePlate™ armor plate. A modified commercial engine provides high reliability and low maintenance, at the expense of an especially visible signature-to-weight ratio. The biggest strength (and weakness) is the lower swappable cargo module; while this allows the Mark-12 to be readily converted from cargo carrier to troop transport to heavy equipment/armor lifter, it also makes the craft unable to operate without a module installed.

In addition to the cargo bay, the Mark-12 carries a pair of plasma cannons for ground fire support and limited air interdiction. While poorly suited for air or space engagements, the cannons provide effective and reliable ground support under a broad range of environments. They are one of the few systems onboard that are not made by a dWHI subsidiary, instead supplied by Subach: Witzig. The other system provided by outside contractors is an enhanced counter-grav flight system provided by Geiger-Voss. This system is designed to be overloaded “relatively” safely, providing improved flight control during orbital drops.

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The standard deWulf dropship has been an idea quietly sitting in my head for a long while before I finally got around to sketching it out. I actually did this one last year (or was it the year before?) while I was getting my car’s oil changed and tired rotated. The design has all of the same elements of other deWulf engineering designs; a tapered nose, blocky hull lines and a slightly uplifted section on the dorsal side of the hull. Not much creativity here (seeing a pattern yet?) but then deWulf Heavy Industries has always been about brute efficiency, not looking good while doing it.

That costs extra, after all