{"data":{"id":19787,"title":"Whitley's Guide - Valkyrie","rsi_url":"https:\/\/robertsspaceindustries.com\/comm-link\/spectrum-dispatch\/19787-Whitleys-Guide-Valkyrie","api_url":"https:\/\/api.star-citizen.wiki\/api\/comm-links\/19787","api_public_url":"https:\/\/api.star-citizen.wiki\/comm-links\/19787","channel":"Undefined","category":"Undefined","series":"News Update","images":[{"id":26463,"name":"source.jpg","rsi_url":"https:\/\/media.robertsspaceindustries.com\/weozjmuuh3hwh\/source.jpg","alt":"","size":843046,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","last_modified":"2019-09-19T15:49:32+00:00","api_url":"https:\/\/api.star-citizen.wiki\/api\/comm-link-images\/26463","similar_url":"https:\/\/api.star-citizen.wiki\/api\/comm-link-images\/26463\/similar"},{"id":27892,"name":"source.jpg","rsi_url":"https:\/\/media.robertsspaceindustries.com\/w3o9r4zgppm77\/source.jpg","alt":"","size":900916,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","last_modified":"2021-09-06T14:48:40+00:00","api_url":"https:\/\/api.star-citizen.wiki\/api\/comm-link-images\/27892","similar_url":"https:\/\/api.star-citizen.wiki\/api\/comm-link-images\/27892\/similar"},{"id":34226,"name":"source.jpg","rsi_url":"https:\/\/media.robertsspaceindustries.com\/c6kwg1x0vbofr\/source.jpg","alt":"","size":508917,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","last_modified":"2021-09-06T14:45:59+00:00","api_url":"https:\/\/api.star-citizen.wiki\/api\/comm-link-images\/34226","similar_url":"https:\/\/api.star-citizen.wiki\/api\/comm-link-images\/34226\/similar"}],"images_count":8,"translations":{"en_EN":"This article originally appeared in Jump Point 7.5.\nAnvil Valkyrie\nDEVELOPMENT HISTORY\nIn early spring 2807, a delegation of engineers, theoreticians, and computer scientists working for Anvil Aerospace booked three weeks of supercomputer array time at the Levindosk Institute on Terra. By this point, Anvil had long-secured its position as the go-to aerospace corporation for both military-contracted weaponry and private combat spacecraft. Equipped with a large war chest owed to the success of the F7A Hornet launch, Anvil was ready and willing to invest in speculative products rather than adapting government contracts for domestic use. But before that could happen, the company\u2019s long-term planners were eager to answer a difficult question: what next? The team dispatched to Levindosk had an intriguing proposal for how to answer this question. They would conduct a large-scale wargaming simulation that would hopefully allow them to predict the United Empire of Earth\u2019s future vehicular needs rather than wait for future contracts to be offered.\n\nComputer wargaming is by no means a radical invention; humans have been using advanced computers to attempt to predict future trends for the entire millennia and such devices have existed with varying degrees of success across generations. Indeed, the UEE military conducts electronic wargaming continually using even more powerful technology than those available to civilian researchers. However, it is exceedingly rare that such analyses are ever declassified and, when they are, they tend to concern past events of very little value to the civilian aerospace sector. Additionally, the rarely available UEE wargaming results are largely concerned with worst case scenarios and are offered to the public as propaganda. Anvil\u2019s executives were interested in a different approach, developing only those scenarios in which day-to-day business continues.\n\nThe Anvil team that arrived at Levindosk had been preparing for the moment for seven years, more time than it would ultimately take the engineering team to develop the resulting ship. The process involved massive data gathering and organization on a scale not previously attempted in the private sector. Decades of data that could help the supercomputers imagine the current state of the UEE had been collected and organized, ranging from simple census statistics to observed fleet movements and spectrum usage metrics. The engineering team worked tirelessly to create a statistical portrait of the UEE in 2802 to allow the supercomputers to process viable outcomes. The immediate result, which would take some thirty-eight months to properly examine, was thousands of different possible scenarios that might impact the need for armed spacecraft in five, ten, twenty, and thirty years. Next, the results were moved to an undisclosed location aboard a fleet of data runners protected by corporate-owned Hornet escort fighters. The data in hand, a second team of expert analysts settled in for the long-haul of connecting these possibilities to future market trends.\n\nAs Anvil\u2019s analysts processed the results, they were quick to move past the obvious findings that the Vanduul conflict and future wars would require faster, more maneuverable, and more powerful frontline spacecraft. Instead, they focused on roles for support craft; what might be the next Crucible? Although most of the group\u2019s findings remain proprietary, interviews have since made it a matter of public record that their first realization was that every future scenario involving a Vanduul defeat would require a significant advancement in landing craft. For example, should the Empire move to retake systems like Orion and Virgil, an Anvil-designed troopship solution could easily lead the way. So, both the technology behind the ships and the ability to mass produce them for future large-scale amphibious operation were certainly worth investigating.\n\nEARLY DEVELOPMENT\nPrior to the introduction of the Valkyrie, Human amphibious assault craft were divided into two types: smaller, more expensive dropships intended to deploy individual squads for specialized operations and larger, more expendable spacecraft designed to deploy entire companies or mechanized artillery units. The Valkyrie\u2019s design team aimed to split the difference down the middle by creating a mass-produced spacecraft capable of transporting both a platoon of soldiers and an armored support vehicle. Anvil\u2019s supercomputer predictions suggested that future war planners would need to rethink the traditional amphibious assault process for future attacks on Vanduul-held worlds. While smaller strike units backed with the threat of orbital bombardment have typically been effective in recent centuries of warfare fought against Humans, mass attacks with additional firepower would be needed for the theoretical taking of a Vanduul planet. To address this challenge, the team attempted to make up the difference between ships used to insert special operations teams and the larger freighters\/landing craft used for logistical support.\n\nThe new armored landing craft, officially designated a heavy dropship, would carry both the sophisticated defenses of a dropship while still maintaining some of the size and deployment capabilities of a starlifter. An array of twenty sophisticated g-couches would keep individual soldiers harnessed during the ride to the surface (landing injuries being another problem with more disposable landing craft) and VTOL thrusters would allow the ship to land and quickly deploy troops and equipment on rough terrain no larger than the ship\u2019s own base (plus area to deploy a vehicle if needed). The spacecraft\u2019s name, Valkyrie, was chosen early on as a tribute to a UEEN pilot who flew under the same callsign who had recently been killed on a reconnaissance mission that identified a Vanduul destroyer (though Anvil\u2019s marketing team would eventually promote it as referring to the ship\u2019s ability to carry soldiers screaming into battle like the Valkyries of myth).\n\nThe design process quickly resulted in a prototype and then a production prototype, all before the idea was ever presented to the military. Anvil opted to keep the test program completely secret, leading to a series of leaked photographs that aerospace watchers incorrectly theorized might be proof that the company was developing another deep space fighter in the style of the Vanguard. It is impossible to know whether similar UEE analyses generated an identical future prediction or if Anvil happened upon an incredibly lucky coincidence, but in 2810 a joint request of the UEE Army and Navy requested a heavy dropship capable of deploying larger combat teams quickly. Anvil was able to present the Valkyrie with its testing complete, already flying, and ready for production. A modified no-bid contract quickly followed and Anvil\u2019s factories began turning out the first military model for active service in 2812.\n\nCIVILIAN DEVELOPMENT\nAlthough the Valkyrie has not yet been used for a mass invasion, the design has already repeatedly proven itself in combat in frontier regions. After-action reports specifically praise the ability to immediately deploy an armored vehicle, itself a great improvement over smaller gunships. The ship has become a favorite of UEEN ground pilots and is considered the \u201cbest way to travel\u201d by soldiers deploying into hostile situations. Military orders from the design have increased each quarter and, if the long-term computer analysis is any indication, Anvil expects to almost double production of the Valkyrie each year for the foreseeable future. To this end, the company has made investments on no fewer than five worlds to add additional factory capacity for producing Valkyries in greater numbers. If a future massed planetary assault occurs, it will be even more of a windfall for Anvil stockholders.\n\nIn 2948, Anvil expanded the Valkyrie line with the not-unexpected addition of a civilian variant. Since the Valkyrie was not developed using government funds, the company was free to adapt it for the civilian market more quickly than previous designs like the Hornet. The civilian conversion team found the design process especially quick, with only limited fittings intended for specific UEEA equipment needing to be removed due to classification. The civilian Valkyrie is otherwise indistinguishable from the military equivalent and is even produced on the same factory floor.\n\nCivilian Valkyries are now operated by local militia and police units on frontier worlds where deploying heavier weapons across great distances is especially important. The design has also found unexpected favor with prospectors and other explorers who have found great use of the ship\u2019s ability to maintain and deploy a ground vehicle on rough terrain with a small footprint. Individual explorers can set down a Valkyrie at one claim site, dispatch a buggy or a small crew of workers and then jump ahead to another location. The process has greatly sped up mining surveys on some worlds by allowing a single work team to cover three to five sites at once. Anvil\u2019s forecasters are keen to see if further uses develop in the asteroid mining or the science-support disciplines.","de_DE":"Dieser Artikel erschien urspr\u00fcnglich in Jump Point 7.5.\nAnvil Valkyrie\nENTWICKLUNGSGESCHICHTE\nIm Fr\u00fchjahr 2802 buchte eine Delegation von Ingenieuren, Theoretikern und Informatikern, die f\u00fcr Anvil Aerospace arbeiteten, drei Wochen Supercomputerzeit im Levindosk-Institut auf Terra. Zu diesem Zeitpunkt hatte Anvil seine Position als f\u00fchrendes Raumfahrtunternehmen sowohl f\u00fcr Waffen im Auftrag des Milit\u00e4rs als auch f\u00fcr private Kampfraumschiffe l\u00e4ngst gefestigt. Ausgestattet mit einer gro\u00dfen Kriegskasse, die dem Erfolg der zivilen F7C Hornet zu verdanken war, war Anvil bereit und willens, in spekulativere Produkte zu investieren, anstatt weitere Regierungsauftr\u00e4ge f\u00fcr den heimischen Gebrauch anzupassen. Doch bevor das geschehen konnte, wollten die langfristigen Planer des Unternehmens eine schwierige Frage beantworten: Wie geht es weiter? Das Team, das nach Levindosk geschickt wurde, hatte einen faszinierenden Vorschlag, wie diese Frage zu beantworten sei. Sie w\u00fcrden eine gro\u00df angelegte Wargaming-Simulation durchf\u00fchren, die es ihnen hoffentlich erm\u00f6glichen w\u00fcrde, den zuk\u00fcnftigen Fahrzeugbedarf des Vereinigten Imperiums der Erde vorherzusagen, anstatt auf zuk\u00fcnftige Vertragsangebote zu warten.\n\nComputer-Wargaming ist keineswegs eine radikale Erfindung; seit Jahrtausenden versuchen die Menschen mit Hilfe fortschrittlicher Computer, k\u00fcnftige Trends vorherzusagen, und solche Ger\u00e4te gibt es seit Generationen mit unterschiedlichem Erfolg. Das UEE-Milit\u00e4r betreibt sogar st\u00e4ndig elektronisches Wargaming und setzt dabei noch leistungsf\u00e4higere Technologien ein als die, die zivilen Forschern zur Verf\u00fcgung stehen. Es ist jedoch \u00e4u\u00dferst selten, dass solche Analysen jemals freigegeben werden, und wenn, dann beziehen sie sich in der Regel auf vergangene Ereignisse, die f\u00fcr den zivilen Luft- und Raumfahrtsektor nur von geringem Wert sind. Au\u00dferdem beziehen sich die selten verf\u00fcgbaren UEE-Wargaming-Ergebnisse meist auf Worst-Case-Szenarien und werden der \u00d6ffentlichkeit als Propaganda angeboten. Die F\u00fchrungskr\u00e4fte von Anvil waren an einem anderen Ansatz interessiert und entwickelten nur solche Szenarien, in denen das Tagesgesch\u00e4ft weiterl\u00e4uft.\n\nDas Anvil-Team, das in Levindosk eintraf, hatte sich sieben Jahre lang auf diesen Moment vorbereitet - mehr Zeit, als das Ingenieursteam letztendlich f\u00fcr die Entwicklung des Schiffes brauchte. Der Prozess beinhaltete eine massive Datensammlung und -organisation in einem Ausma\u00df, wie es in der Privatwirtschaft noch nie versucht wurde. Jahrzehntelang wurden Daten gesammelt und organisiert, die den Supercomputern helfen sollten, sich ein Bild vom aktuellen Zustand der UEE zu machen - von einfachen Volksz\u00e4hlungsstatistiken bis hin zu beobachteten Flottenbewegungen und Metriken zur Frequenznutzung. Das Ingenieurteam arbeitete unerm\u00fcdlich daran, ein statistisches Portr\u00e4t der UEE im Jahr 2802 zu erstellen, damit die Supercomputer brauchbare Ergebnisse verarbeiten konnten. Das unmittelbare Ergebnis, dessen genaue Untersuchung etwa achtunddrei\u00dfig Monate in Anspruch nehmen w\u00fcrde, waren Tausende verschiedener m\u00f6glicher Szenarien, die den Bedarf an bewaffneten Raumfahrzeugen in f\u00fcnf, zehn, zwanzig und drei\u00dfig Jahren beeinflussen k\u00f6nnten. Anschlie\u00dfend wurden die Ergebnisse an einen geheimen Ort an Bord einer Flotte von Datenl\u00e4ufern gebracht, die von firmeneigenen Hornet-Begleitj\u00e4gern gesch\u00fctzt wurden. Mit den Daten in der Hand machte sich ein zweites Team von Experten daran, diese M\u00f6glichkeiten mit zuk\u00fcnftigen Markttrends zu verbinden.\n\nAls die Analysten von Anvil die Ergebnisse auswerteten, kamen sie schnell zu dem Schluss, dass der Vanduul-Konflikt und k\u00fcnftige Kriege schnellere, wendigere und leistungsf\u00e4higere Raumschiffe an vorderster Front erfordern w\u00fcrden. Stattdessen konzentrierten sie sich auf die Aufgaben von Unterst\u00fctzungsschiffen: Was k\u00f6nnte die n\u00e4chste Schmelztiegel sein? Obwohl die meisten Ergebnisse der Gruppe geheim bleiben, wurde in Interviews bekannt gegeben, dass ihre erste Erkenntnis war, dass jedes zuk\u00fcnftige Szenario, das eine Niederlage der Vanduul zur Folge h\u00e4tte, eine deutliche Verbesserung der Landungsschiffe erfordern w\u00fcrde. Sollte das Imperium beispielsweise versuchen, Systeme wie Orion und Virgil zur\u00fcckzuerobern, k\u00f6nnte ein von Anvil entwickeltes Truppenschiff leicht den Weg weisen. Sowohl die Technologie hinter den Schiffen als auch die M\u00f6glichkeit, sie f\u00fcr k\u00fcnftige amphibische Operationen in gro\u00dfem Ma\u00dfstab zu produzieren, waren es also wert, untersucht zu werden.\n\nFR\u00dcHE ENTWICKLUNG\nVor der Einf\u00fchrung der Valkyrie gab es zwei Arten von amphibischen Angriffsschiffen: kleinere, teurere Absetzschiffe, die f\u00fcr den Einsatz einzelner Trupps bei speziellen Operationen gedacht waren, und gr\u00f6\u00dfere, entbehrlichere Raumschiffe, die f\u00fcr den Einsatz ganzer Kompanien oder mechanisierter Artillerieeinheiten konzipiert waren. Das Konstruktionsteam der Valkyrie wollte den Unterschied in der Mitte aufteilen, indem es ein serienm\u00e4\u00dfig hergestelltes Raumschiff entwickelte, das sowohl einen Trupp Soldaten als auch ein gepanzertes Unterst\u00fctzungsfahrzeug transportieren kann. Die Supercomputer-Vorhersagen von Anvil legten nahe, dass die Kriegsplaner f\u00fcr k\u00fcnftige Angriffe auf von Vanduul gehaltene Welten den traditionellen amphibischen Angriffsprozess \u00fcberdenken m\u00fcssten. W\u00e4hrend in den letzten Jahrhunderten der Kriegsf\u00fchrung gegen die Menschen in der Regel kleinere Angriffseinheiten mit der Drohung von Orbitalbombardements erfolgreich waren, w\u00e4ren f\u00fcr die theoretische Einnahme eines Vanduul-Planeten Massenangriffe mit zus\u00e4tzlicher Feuerkraft erforderlich. Um diese Herausforderung zu meistern, versuchte das Team, den Unterschied zwischen dem Aegis Dynamics Redeemer, der f\u00fcr den Einsatz von Sondereinsatzteams verwendet wird, und den gr\u00f6\u00dferen Frachtern\/Landungsschiffen, die f\u00fcr die logistische Unterst\u00fctzung eingesetzt werden, auszugleichen.\n\nDas neue gepanzerte Landungsschiff, das offiziell als \"Heavy Dropship\" bezeichnet wird, verf\u00fcgt \u00fcber die ausgefeilten Verteidigungssysteme eines Redeemer und hat gleichzeitig die Gr\u00f6\u00dfe und Einsatzm\u00f6glichkeiten eines Starlifters. Eine Reihe von zwanzig hochentwickelten G-Couches w\u00fcrde die einzelnen Soldaten w\u00e4hrend der Fahrt zur Oberfl\u00e4che festhalten (Landungsverletzungen sind ein weiteres Problem bei Einweg-Landebooten), und VTOL-Triebwerke w\u00fcrden es dem Schiff erm\u00f6glichen, zu landen und Truppen und Ausr\u00fcstung auf unwegsamem Gel\u00e4nde, das nicht gr\u00f6\u00dfer als die eigene Basis ist, schnell zu verlegen (plus Platz, um bei Bedarf ein Fahrzeug zu verlegen). Der Name des Raumschiffs, Valkyrie, wurde schon fr\u00fch als Hommage an einen UEEN-Piloten gew\u00e4hlt, der unter demselben Rufzeichen flog und k\u00fcrzlich bei einer Aufkl\u00e4rungsmission get\u00f6tet wurde, bei der ein Vanduul-Zerst\u00f6rer identifiziert wurde (obwohl das Marketingteam von Anvil den Namen sp\u00e4ter als Hinweis auf die F\u00e4higkeit des Schiffes, Soldaten schreiend in die Schlacht zu tragen, wie die Walk\u00fcren aus der Sage, bewarb).\n\nDer Entwurfsprozess f\u00fchrte schnell zu einem Prototyp und dann zu einem Produktionsprototyp, bevor die Idee \u00fcberhaupt dem Milit\u00e4r vorgestellt wurde. Anvil entschied sich, das Testprogramm v\u00f6llig geheim zu halten, was zu einer Reihe von durchgesickerten Fotos f\u00fchrte, die Beobachter der Luft- und Raumfahrt f\u00e4lschlicherweise als Beweis daf\u00fcr ansahen, dass das Unternehmen einen weiteren Weltraumj\u00e4ger im Stil der Vanguard entwickelte. Es ist unm\u00f6glich zu wissen, ob \u00e4hnliche UEE-Analysen zu einer identischen Zukunftsprognose f\u00fchrten oder ob Anvil auf einen unglaublich gl\u00fccklichen Zufall stie\u00df, aber im Jahr 2810 wurde in einer gemeinsamen Anfrage der UEE-Armee und -Marine ein schweres Abwurfschiff gefordert, das in der Lage war, gr\u00f6\u00dfere Kampftruppen schnell zu verlegen. Anvil konnte die Walk\u00fcre pr\u00e4sentieren, deren Tests abgeschlossen waren, die bereits flog und bereit f\u00fcr die Produktion war. Es folgte ein modifizierter No-Bid-Vertrag und Anvils Fabriken begannen im Jahr 2812 mit der Produktion des ersten Milit\u00e4rmodells f\u00fcr den aktiven Dienst.\n\nZIVILE ENTWICKLUNG\nObwohl die Valkyrie noch nicht f\u00fcr eine Masseninvasion eingesetzt wurde, hat sich die Konstruktion bereits mehrfach im Kampf in Grenzregionen bew\u00e4hrt. In Berichten nach dem Einsatz wird besonders die F\u00e4higkeit gelobt, sofort ein gepanzertes Fahrzeug einzusetzen, was eine gro\u00dfe Verbesserung gegen\u00fcber kleineren Kampfschiffen darstellt. Das Schiff ist zu einem Favoriten der UEEN-Bodenpiloten geworden und wird von Soldaten, die in feindlichen Situationen eingesetzt werden, als die \"beste Art zu reisen\" angesehen. Die milit\u00e4rischen Auftr\u00e4ge f\u00fcr die Konstruktion haben von Quartal zu Quartal zugenommen, und wenn die langfristige Computeranalyse stimmt, rechnet Anvil damit, die Produktion der Valkyrie in absehbarer Zeit jedes Jahr fast zu verdoppeln. Zu diesem Zweck hat das Unternehmen auf nicht weniger als f\u00fcnf Welten Investitionen get\u00e4tigt, um zus\u00e4tzliche Fabrikkapazit\u00e4ten f\u00fcr die Produktion von Walk\u00fcren in gr\u00f6\u00dferer Zahl zu schaffen. Sollte es in Zukunft zu einem Massenangriff auf einen Planeten kommen, wird das f\u00fcr die Anvil-Aktion\u00e4re ein noch gr\u00f6\u00dferer Gewinn sein.\n\nIm Jahr 2948 erweiterte Anvil die Walk\u00fcre-Reihe um eine zivile Variante, die nicht unerwartet kam. Da die Valkyrie nicht mit Regierungsgeldern entwickelt wurde, konnte das Unternehmen sie schneller f\u00fcr den zivilen Markt umbauen als fr\u00fchere Modelle wie die Hornet. Das zivile Umr\u00fcstungsteam fand den Entwurfsprozess besonders schnell, da nur wenige Ausr\u00fcstungsgegenst\u00e4nde, die f\u00fcr spezielle UEEA-Ausr\u00fcstung vorgesehen waren, aufgrund der Klassifizierung entfernt werden mussten. Die zivile Walk\u00fcre ist ansonsten nicht von ihrem milit\u00e4rischen Pendant zu unterscheiden und wird sogar in der gleichen Fabrikhalle hergestellt.\n\nZivile Walk\u00fcren werden heute von lokalen Miliz- und Polizeieinheiten auf Grenzwelten eingesetzt, wo der Einsatz schwerer Waffen \u00fcber gro\u00dfe Entfernungen besonders wichtig ist. Das Design hat auch unerwarteten Anklang bei Goldsuchern und anderen Entdeckern gefunden, die die F\u00e4higkeit des Schiffes, ein Bodenfahrzeug auf unwegsamem Gel\u00e4nde mit geringem Platzbedarf zu warten und einzusetzen, sehr zu sch\u00e4tzen wissen. Einzelne Sch\u00fcrfer k\u00f6nnen eine Walk\u00fcre an einem Claim absetzen, einen Buggy oder eine kleine Mannschaft von Arbeitern losschicken und dann zu einem anderen Ort weiterfahren. Dieses Verfahren hat die Erkundung von Bergbaugebieten auf einigen Welten erheblich beschleunigt, da ein einziges Arbeitsteam drei bis f\u00fcnf Standorte auf einmal abdecken kann. Die Prognostiker von Anvil sind gespannt, ob sich weitere Einsatzm\u00f6glichkeiten im Asteroidenabbau oder in der wissenschaftlichen Unterst\u00fctzung ergeben.","zh_CN":"This article originally appeared in Jump Point 7.5.\nAnvil Valkyrie\nDEVELOPMENT HISTORY\nIn early spring 2807, a delegation of engineers, theoreticians, and computer scientists working for Anvil Aerospace booked three weeks of supercomputer array time at the Levindosk Institute on Terra. By this point, Anvil had long-secured its position as the go-to aerospace corporation for both military-contracted weaponry and private combat spacecraft. Equipped with a large war chest owed to the success of the F7A Hornet launch, Anvil was ready and willing to invest in speculative products rather than adapting government contracts for domestic use. But before that could happen, the company\u2019s long-term planners were eager to answer a difficult question: what next? The team dispatched to Levindosk had an intriguing proposal for how to answer this question. They would conduct a large-scale wargaming simulation that would hopefully allow them to predict the United Empire of Earth\u2019s future vehicular needs rather than wait for future contracts to be offered.\n\nComputer wargaming is by no means a radical invention; humans have been using advanced computers to attempt to predict future trends for the entire millennia and such devices have existed with varying degrees of success across generations. Indeed, the UEE military conducts electronic wargaming continually using even more powerful technology than those available to civilian researchers. However, it is exceedingly rare that such analyses are ever declassified and, when they are, they tend to concern past events of very little value to the civilian aerospace sector. Additionally, the rarely available UEE wargaming results are largely concerned with worst case scenarios and are offered to the public as propaganda. Anvil\u2019s executives were interested in a different approach, developing only those scenarios in which day-to-day business continues.\n\nThe Anvil team that arrived at Levindosk had been preparing for the moment for seven years, more time than it would ultimately take the engineering team to develop the resulting ship. The process involved massive data gathering and organization on a scale not previously attempted in the private sector. Decades of data that could help the supercomputers imagine the current state of the UEE had been collected and organized, ranging from simple census statistics to observed fleet movements and spectrum usage metrics. The engineering team worked tirelessly to create a statistical portrait of the UEE in 2802 to allow the supercomputers to process viable outcomes. The immediate result, which would take some thirty-eight months to properly examine, was thousands of different possible scenarios that might impact the need for armed spacecraft in five, ten, twenty, and thirty years. Next, the results were moved to an undisclosed location aboard a fleet of data runners protected by corporate-owned Hornet escort fighters. The data in hand, a second team of expert analysts settled in for the long-haul of connecting these possibilities to future market trends.\n\nAs Anvil\u2019s analysts processed the results, they were quick to move past the obvious findings that the Vanduul conflict and future wars would require faster, more maneuverable, and more powerful frontline spacecraft. Instead, they focused on roles for support craft; what might be the next Crucible? Although most of the group\u2019s findings remain proprietary, interviews have since made it a matter of public record that their first realization was that every future scenario involving a Vanduul defeat would require a significant advancement in landing craft. For example, should the Empire move to retake systems like Orion and Virgil, an Anvil-designed troopship solution could easily lead the way. So, both the technology behind the ships and the ability to mass produce them for future large-scale amphibious operation were certainly worth investigating.\n\nEARLY DEVELOPMENT\nPrior to the introduction of the Valkyrie, Human amphibious assault craft were divided into two types: smaller, more expensive dropships intended to deploy individual squads for specialized operations and larger, more expendable spacecraft designed to deploy entire companies or mechanized artillery units. The Valkyrie\u2019s design team aimed to split the difference down the middle by creating a mass-produced spacecraft capable of transporting both a platoon of soldiers and an armored support vehicle. Anvil\u2019s supercomputer predictions suggested that future war planners would need to rethink the traditional amphibious assault process for future attacks on Vanduul-held worlds. While smaller strike units backed with the threat of orbital bombardment have typically been effective in recent centuries of warfare fought against Humans, mass attacks with additional firepower would be needed for the theoretical taking of a Vanduul planet. To address this challenge, the team attempted to make up the difference between ships used to insert special operations teams and the larger freighters\/landing craft used for logistical support.\n\nThe new armored landing craft, officially designated a heavy dropship, would carry both the sophisticated defenses of a dropship while still maintaining some of the size and deployment capabilities of a starlifter. An array of twenty sophisticated g-couches would keep individual soldiers harnessed during the ride to the surface (landing injuries being another problem with more disposable landing craft) and VTOL thrusters would allow the ship to land and quickly deploy troops and equipment on rough terrain no larger than the ship\u2019s own base (plus area to deploy a vehicle if needed). The spacecraft\u2019s name, Valkyrie, was chosen early on as a tribute to a UEEN pilot who flew under the same callsign who had recently been killed on a reconnaissance mission that identified a Vanduul destroyer (though Anvil\u2019s marketing team would eventually promote it as referring to the ship\u2019s ability to carry soldiers screaming into battle like the Valkyries of myth).\n\nThe design process quickly resulted in a prototype and then a production prototype, all before the idea was ever presented to the military. Anvil opted to keep the test program completely secret, leading to a series of leaked photographs that aerospace watchers incorrectly theorized might be proof that the company was developing another deep space fighter in the style of the Vanguard. It is impossible to know whether similar UEE analyses generated an identical future prediction or if Anvil happened upon an incredibly lucky coincidence, but in 2810 a joint request of the UEE Army and Navy requested a heavy dropship capable of deploying larger combat teams quickly. Anvil was able to present the Valkyrie with its testing complete, already flying, and ready for production. A modified no-bid contract quickly followed and Anvil\u2019s factories began turning out the first military model for active service in 2812.\n\nCIVILIAN DEVELOPMENT\nAlthough the Valkyrie has not yet been used for a mass invasion, the design has already repeatedly proven itself in combat in frontier regions. After-action reports specifically praise the ability to immediately deploy an armored vehicle, itself a great improvement over smaller gunships. The ship has become a favorite of UEEN ground pilots and is considered the \u201cbest way to travel\u201d by soldiers deploying into hostile situations. Military orders from the design have increased each quarter and, if the long-term computer analysis is any indication, Anvil expects to almost double production of the Valkyrie each year for the foreseeable future. To this end, the company has made investments on no fewer than five worlds to add additional factory capacity for producing Valkyries in greater numbers. If a future massed planetary assault occurs, it will be even more of a windfall for Anvil stockholders.\n\nIn 2948, Anvil expanded the Valkyrie line with the not-unexpected addition of a civilian variant. Since the Valkyrie was not developed using government funds, the company was free to adapt it for the civilian market more quickly than previous designs like the Hornet. The civilian conversion team found the design process especially quick, with only limited fittings intended for specific UEEA equipment needing to be removed due to classification. The civilian Valkyrie is otherwise indistinguishable from the military equivalent and is even produced on the same factory floor.\n\nCivilian Valkyries are now operated by local militia and police units on frontier worlds where deploying heavier weapons across great distances is especially important. The design has also found unexpected favor with prospectors and other explorers who have found great use of the ship\u2019s ability to maintain and deploy a ground vehicle on rough terrain with a small footprint. Individual explorers can set down a Valkyrie at one claim site, dispatch a buggy or a small crew of workers and then jump ahead to another location. The process has greatly sped up mining surveys on some worlds by allowing a single work team to cover three to five sites at once. Anvil\u2019s forecasters are keen to see if further uses develop in the asteroid mining or the science-support disciplines."},"links_count":0,"comment_count":33,"created_at":"2024-02-13T21:00:00+00:00","created_at_human":"2 years ago"},"meta":{"processed_at":"2026-05-08 02:37:24","valid_relations":["images","links"],"prev_id":19786,"next_id":19788}}