Drop pods

From Command and Conquer Wiki

Orbital Drop Pod
Weaponry	Single vulcan cannon
Armour	Heavy
Type	Atmospheric entry vehicle
Faction	GDI
Value	{{{value}}}

Drop pods were disposable atmospheric reentry vehicles designed for a single soldier to enter and be launched onto any spot on the face of the Earth from the Philadelphia, allowing GDI to bring infantry to any site in the globe mere minutes after they were needed. This assisted GDI with its guerrilla containment policy; in theory, wherever Nod would be, GDI would be there very soon after Nod appeared.

The drop pod was an ingenious and very simple design - the soldier loaded on-board was encased in a small cockpit, similar to the ones in Orca aircraft, and was protected by four plates, which completely covered the vehicle's exterior and protected it from heat during re-entry. Actual Drop pod composition is classified, though. After the vehicle has entered Earth's atmosphere, the plates would extend into what was similar to a blooming flower and slowed down the pod's descent, to avoid crashing into the surface. During this stage, machine guns mounted on the pod would clear the landing zone from opposition, to allow the pilot safe exit from the vehicle after planetfall. Once landed, the drop pods could not be re-used due to the amount of damage sustained when landing.

Ground commanders requested Drop Pods via a Drop pod node which would relay the desired landing coordinates to the Philadelphia.

[edit] Zone Tooper Drop Pods

Following the conclusion of the war and introduction of Zone Troopers, GDI continued upgrading and developing the drop pods to allow quick deployment of the powered armor units anywhere on the globe. The new pods resemble roughly an up-side-down cup with three exits, which are blown off as the pod lands on the ground and allow exit of the Zone Trooper or Zone raider squads. These pods could be deployed from GDI space stations in orbit, and could be called through a Space command uplink.