Andrade Industries’ Cranefly Light Transport is an old spacedog. The first model appeared all the way back into the early colonial decades; at the time, it was notable as being the first independently-financed FTL cargo vessel created by a South American company. (The headquarters still today remains located in Chile.) A simple, yet enduring design, the Cranefly’s popularity peaked in the last 22nd century, and it has been on the steady decline since. Andrade Industries still has a single production line, trickling out new models – mostly to smaller independent worlds or mid-size corporations. A large number, upgraded and refitted over the last couple of centuries, still remain in service around the periphery of human space.
The Cranefly’s sublight speed is unimpressive by modern standards, with only a 4.2mc acceleration. Manoeuvrability is somewhat better, rated at 74 MEUs. Nevertheless, given the Cranefly’s small size, this is enough power that even the original Cranefly was capable of atmospheric flight and landing on a planetary surface. Many modern Craneflys are no longer so equipped – perhaps one in five – with the mass given over to other purposes.
The Cranefly has two cargo-loading doors, one each side of the vessel. In addition, the nose-dome of the vessel also articulates and retracts, allowing easy access. Indeed, not a few Cranefly variants over the years have made use of this latter feature as a smallcraft bay. About fifty percent of the Cranefly’s internal volume is given over the cargo space.
A typical modern Cranefly has shielding rated at 150TXq, but only a thin skin with an AIC of 23TXq beneath. A light laser array provides meteor and very light point defence protection with an output of about 325TXq.
One notable variant occasionally spotted in the security role is a militarised version, the Cranefly Strikeboat.
In the latter half of the 23rd century, the Cranefly’s base design was overhauled, and formed the basis of the Hornet Security/Patrol cruiser.
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