Dropship
Dropships are spacecraft designed to ferry military personnel and equipment from orbital spacecraft to a planetary surface, as well as often providing fire support to forces that have been deployed on a planet's surface. A dropship is distinguished from a shuttle primarily by its armament.
Examples of Dropships
- Al'kesh-class bomber
- C-9979 landing craft
- Imperial Thunderhawk gunship (Warhammer 40,000)
- Colonial Marine dropships from Aliens.
- The Skyranger and Avenger built by XCOM, as well as the various large Sectoid spacecraft.
- The Galactic Republic's LAAT gunship can perform in this role. The Empire also has the Sentinel-class landing craft and the AT-AT Barge.
- During their invasion of Naboo, the Trade Federation used large dropships to deploy their droid forces to the planet.