Ka-type drop pod carrier

The Ka-type drop pod carrier, also known as the special forces dropship, is a unique type of dropship designed for the deployment and recovery of special forces. Jointly developed by Daechung and Kawazaki, the Ka-type is the only "stealth dropship" design in wide use. An expensive, highly specialised machine, many details surrounding it are protected by the Yamataian and Jeobseoni governments, who are the only known users. The Ka-type is only employed by the Imperial Navy Umibozu Unit, the Orbital Divers and the Dogsuli.

Design
The Ka-type is a stealth insertion ship. Unlike all other dropship designs, the Ka-type has an on-board interplanetary FTL drive, allowing it to be deployed from its mothership at the edge of a star system and discreetly move into the target planet's orbit. Besides its small size, the Ka-type also has similar stealth technologies to that used on the Kabekage-class stealth destroyer, comprising a complex mixture of ablative baffles, counter-electronic systems, stealth ablative coating and texture buffers that make it nearly invisible to all known forms of detection and radar. Due to its small size, active camouflage systems are also applied to the outer surface of some units, making them visually invisible as well.

Primarily designed to facilitate clandestine orbital insertion of special forces or supplies, the Ka-type is equipped with a purpose-built drop pod rack on the rear of the craft six three-man drop pods or 12 one-man or cargo pods. It also has a passenger bay capable of holding 18 soldiers or a command centre, allowing orbiting Ka-types to act as command and monitoring platforms for large-scale special operations.

A typical mission undertaken by a Ka-type would follow a basic outline whereby the craft would be deployed at the edge of a star system, make its way via FTL to the target planet and drop its pods, immediately exfiltrating to hide elsewhere in the system or even in orbit if possible, without ever being detected. Upon the conclusion of the ground mission, the dropship may then land on the planet itself to retrieve the commandos when possible. Resupply of ground forces may also be carried out in the same fashion, both for special and conventional forces such as the Imperial Army Orbital Divers, which maintain on-ground stealth by using Ka-types for in-field resupply. Some Imperial Navy TokuSa missions use two Ka-type ships, one responsible for the troops that leaves orbit once the commandos are launched and a second acting as a command post and supply ship remaining in orbit.

The most dangerous part of a Ka-type ship's mission is the extraction of troops, almost always carried out in remote areas at night. As its mission is supposed to be clandestine, the Ka-type only has a single chin-mounted 20mm cannon for self-defence or for dealing with pursuers of the commandos.