Sunrise Class Heavy Armed Transport (Patreon)

Vehicle design from the Royal Equestria Security Force (RESF) dreamscape.  The transports that Coco Pommel hears coming in a recent posting Link were of the Sunrise Class. 

    The Sunrise Class is a 2nd generation type of craft that takes advantage of the breakthrough in artificial levitators and propulsors. Originally they were developed to protect forces from draconic forces during the critical period of landing. However where they proved their worth was during the invasion of the Shadow Lord's forces. 

     In some cases the Sunrises were used for improvised attack and fire support when the forces of the Royal Sisters were throwing everything they had to stall the Shadow Lord's forces until proper units could be employed. 

    With the easing of tensions between the Equestria and Grand Council of Dragons the Sunrise Class evolved with new variants. Although some variants still possess the upper turrets most only retain the lower 3 turrets.  With their 35mm autocannons and either a coaxial  40mm HV grenade launcher, 12.7mm machine gun, or 7.62 minigun style weapon these turrets can offer extensive suppressive fire.

     However most Sunrise variants still possess the 2 Vertical Lauch Systems (VLS) that each contain 4 Unicorn Class Anti-Dragon fire-and-forget missiles. While their tandem head shaped charge warheads were originally designed to knock drakes and dragons from the sky the missiles have also proven effectively against ground targets like bunkers. 

      Along with their offensive punch the Sunrise also possess an extensive of active and passive defensive systems. Their Star Swirl unidirectional shield generator provide a high degree of protection from a host weapons up to 14.5mm and shrapnel fragments. They employ extensive use of composite armor of varying thickness up to 30mm. Rounding out their array of defensive equipment the Sunrise can use decoy ejectors and masking pods to protect them.

     But all this offensive and defensive capability came at a price. The Sunrise Class is very expensive for a transport craft. Therefore they've only been procured in modest numbers., and they do not lend themselves to rapid mass production. They're heavy. Not just in their cargo capacity but their actual weight. At 56 tons empty and up to 126 tons fully loaded they have to be careful in choosing where to physically set down, lest they sink into it and become bogged down. If the ground is suspect the craft may hover just couple feet off ground and quickly unload their cargo.   

      A recent addition to the Sunrise Class has been the implementation of Twilight Sparkle's Artificial Teleportation Circle System. This permits the craft to remotely deliver its payload of cargo, vehicles, or troops to areas that are either too hot, too small, or discretion is desired. It requires the planting of wards in advance, but once activated they can teleport cargoes from as far away as 10 miles while traveling at 275mph.  However the system can be persnickety and can sometimes refuse to work at the worst possible time. 

    Another negative of Sunrise Class was that they were noisy. Their generators are loud, depending the local geology and the altitude their flying at their levitators can cause the ground to rumble and vibrate for quite some distance away from the craft.