Hathway-Morganthaw T-35 VTOL Dropship

Length: 25 m

Wingspan: 20 m

Crew: 2 pilots, up to 18 passengers

Weaponry: 1 Gauss Cannon, 2 missile pods, 2 door mounted gatling guns

The now 40-year-old T-35 dropship is an atmospheric gunship/troop transport manufactured by the Solaris-based manufacturer Hathway-Morganthaw. In large part due to its inexpensive maintenance costs, the T-35 has proved popular with Neutral Rim buyers and is frequently used by local governments to thwart terrestrial piracy and other criminal elements. The T-35 is largely comprised of inexpensive and easily replaceable parts, making them ideal for small planetary governments on a budget. On the other hand, it has garnered an arguably sordid reputation in Solaris Space after countless despotic Neutral Worlds tyrants deployed T-35's to put down would-be liberation movements, with frequent collateral bloodshed. Despite these unfortunate incidents, Hathway-Morganthaw counters that the T-35 is a taxpayer-friendly law enforcement solution which a near perfect reliability record.

Armed with an anti-material gauss cannon, twin missile pods, as well as two passenger-manned gatling guns, the T-35 is a match for most terrestrial armor and cuts through infantry with ease. Further, up to 80 tonnes of vehicular equipment or cargo can be strapped to the bottom of the ship for transport.

The Alliance armed forces largely shunned the T-35 during the Neutral Rim War, due to its limited performance in vacuum, as well as its inability to escape a planet's gravity well. However, following the disastrous Battle of Tethra and the ensuing stress on the Alliance's war budget, the Alliance Fleet experimented with using the inexpensive T-35's as insertion dropships in space to ground assaults, to qualified success. Due to the T-35's limited mobility during atmospheric re-entry, as well as its inability to leave the planet after insertion, the T-35 has come to be known as the "One Way Ticket" in the Alliance Space Force.