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The main difference was the presence of a pronounced dorsal 'hump', which housed the same (albeit upgraded for better reliability) slipspace drive as that used by the earlier Condor, the Starwerx FTL-318 Miniaturised SFTE. The D109H-LRT was, superficially, very similar to the basic model, a deliberate choice to keep the costs down. This interest was still present when the Jumbo Pelican was formally unveiled, which was why Brigadier General Bashkim Shehu approached Misriah's sales team with a request to convert the new spacelifter into a long-range transport. Although they quickly retired the aircraft once it became clear how inefficient it was to operate, their brief experience revealed the advantages present in a small dropship able to travel at translight speeds. When the D80 Condor was introduced, one of its most enthusiastic adopters was the UNSC Air Force.
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History Specifications Variants D109H-LRT The Navy was the last branch to adopt it. Eventually, the UNSC Marine Corps placed an initial order 500 Jumbo Pelicans for limited deployment, which was followed by another 1,000 for the Air Force. This included extending its width by about five metres to increase its available space, and changing the structure to make it smoother in flight. The first working prototype was delivered to the UNSC Marine Corps for testing in April 2537, and their feedback allowed Misriah to refine the design. All these designs were surprisingly similar to the final product, thanks to the UNSC taking a more active role in the process. Within six months, five different configurations were conceived of, ranging from a measly 40-metre, 190-ton design, to a colossal 85-metre, 570-ton giant. Headed by Oscar Rolvsson, the development of what would become the D109 Jumbo Pelican was remarkably swift. Both of these causes became the prime focusing points for the upcoming aircraft.
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It had been badly out-competed by Misriah's own D82-EST Darter and Ushuaia Armoury's D96-TCE Albatross. This was thanks to its rather small cargo bay, which did not take advantage of the design's ability to haul far greater weights. Secondly, the Condor was being pressed into the same roles that smaller, cheaper transports were. All this result in an fantastically-expensive dropship that made it cost-inefficient for the roles it was supposed to perform. The upfront cost was almost a quarter that of the UNSC Navy's Gladius-class heavy corvette, and it required a dedicated engineer to repair the temperamental engines and slipspace drive. Everything about the Condor program was expensive, with the development budget being overrun many times because no slipspace drive was small enough to be mounted onto a dropship. These revealed two key causes that would directly inform the upcoming transport. The original D80-LRT Condor served as a starting point for the new D109H-SLT Jumbo Pelican, with its failings being one of the most important focuses for the aircraft.īefore the project even began, Misriah had already conducted a lengthy investigation into the Condor's failure. It stipulated that the new aircraft needed to share its major systems, such as engines and powerplant, with its smaller cousin, while also being able to lift several times what the Pelican could. As the D77-TC Pelican was the single-most numerous dropship under production, the UNSC approached Misriah with a contract to design a stop-gap space-lift transport. While existing civilian craft could be purchased to hastily meet this need, they often required different logistical needs compared to other aircraft in service, complicating logistics. With the D80-LRT Condor proving more expensive to procure than expected, the UNSC now found itself with a shortage of modern heavy-lift transports to replace the D20 Heron. Although not intended for use on the frontlines, the rapidly depleting stocks of aerial transports saw Jumbo Pelicans being pressed into combat in ways it was not designed for. As the bridge between the UNSC's lighter dropships and the D20 Heron, the aircraft could fulfill a number of mission roles beyond its logistical roots, including rapid airdrops, insertions, and extractions to and from heavy combat zones. The Misriah Aerospace D109H-SLT Jumbo Pelican was a heavy-lift transport aircraft and a specialised variation of the Pelican dropship family intended for hauling heavy cargo and equipment between locations for the UNSC Armed Forces. 6 Misriah Aerospace CFJ-38009 hybrid fusion drivesĥ7-91 millimetres of composite titanium platingĥ (Pilot, Flight Engineer, Crew Chief, 2 Loadmasters)