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C314 Skyhook Light Sledge
The C314 Skyhook-Class Cargo Sledge was developed by the Lawrence-Franklin Aerospace Works 15 years before the War of Unification. C314s were produced over 20 subsequent years, and spawned a number of offshoot variants, including the military-spec B771 Infantry Insertion Vehicle, used by planetary militia on several rim worlds.
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| A C314-B Skyhook bearing the livery of the Londinium cargo yards. |
The C314 falls into a category of Light Sledges, a designation assigned to vehicles between roughly 12 and 60 meters in length which transport Universal Cargo Modules (UCMs), a system of standardised cargo containers of a variety of capacities and internal configurations. Sledges serve a variety of transport functions, most frequently planetary drop, orbital lift, as well as orbital transit. Some larger sledges, such as the C314, have limited interplanetary burn capability. The C314 is equipped with a Gurtsler Interplanetary Drive to provide full burn impulse.
C314s are limited to 100 and 200 series UCM containers. They cannot handle the larger 300-500 series pods. The C314 is designed to make light cargo and courier runs without support from planetary or orbital facilities. They are also frequently employed to move pods from a planetary surface to an orbiting freighter. This versatility has also made this design a favourite of shipping companies in more remote regions, given the design's well-deserved reputation of being able to go almost anywhere and land on almost anything. Some large cargo vessels carry a complement of Skyhooks to quickly deliver cargo to the surface.
The aerospaceframe of the C314 is an airfoil-lifting atmospheric unibody designed for sustained lifting-wing flight in a standard atmosphere. The large concessions to aerodynamics made in the design reflect the primary role of the craft as a vehicle for transferring cargo from surface to orbit. The main fuselage is square in cross-section and houses the majority of ship's systems and habitable areas of the ship. The airfoil wings contain a pair of rod-linear fusion reactors. Having a pair of reactors provides power system redundancy in case of a reactor failure. The thick wing roots also house the cargo manipulation arms and clamps for securement of two 100-series or a single 200-series UCM pod. Two phase-locked ion jet engines occupy wingtip nacelles and provide primary propulsion in atmosphere and orbital maneuvers. A magnetic-induction turbine in the forward section of each nacelle provides additional thrust in dense atmospheric conditions, improving takeoff and landing lift. The ion jet and boost engines fire through rearward-facing 8-vane vectored thrust nozzles and can be directed through 6 downward-facing variable nozzles mounted under each nacelle for vertical takeoffs and landings. With full boost in standard atmosphere, the two engines produce a combined 515,000 pounds of thrust, giving the craft a cargo weight capacity of just over 75,000 pounds (37.5 ton) for vertical takeoff and 125,000 pounds (62.5 ton) for 1000-foot runway takeoff. Variant models of the C314 tend to be outfitted with more powerful engines.
Atmospheric control is accomplished via tail airfoil surfaces, thrust vectoring and laminar flow control. Control in hover situations rests on thrust vectoring and the reaction control jets. The RCS system provides control in orbital maneuvers and while hovering, and is composed of axis-aligned combustion jets located in the nose, wingtips, and tail root of the craft. Attitude control in all aspects of flight is performed via a fly-by-wire avionics system, receiving commands from either pilot's or copilot's station. Due to the limitations of thrust vectoring of the main engines, a C314 has poor yaw response, but exceptional roll and pitch rates, giving it a response profile similar to that of a pure aircraft.
The standard C314 is equipped with a Gurtsler Mk3 photonic induction engine for interplanetary burns. These produce a maximum of 18.7 g acceleration for an unloaded C314. Onboard compensation can limit internal forces to 0.41 g under optimal conditions. Maintaining such compensation under heavy payload conditions becomes increasingly inefficient. This limitation, as well as the mediocre fuel capacity and crew amenities onboard limit the C314 to short-range interplanetary flight only.
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