Federal Dropship

Developed by Core Dynamics, the Federal Dropship is a versatile combat vessel widely used by the Federal Navy. Boasting one large and four medium hardpoints, the vessel can contend even with larger ships such as the Python, while its two military compartments allow the pilot to enhance the ship's defensive profile.

— In-Game Description

The Federal Dropship is a medium ship produced by Core Dynamics for the Federation. Purchasing it requires achieving a Federal Navy rank of Midshipman. The workhorse of the Federal Navy, the Federal Dropship has excellent hardpoint placement, and is known for its ability to remain functioning even when the hull is at very low integrity thanks to its internal module positioning. Although the more expensive Federal military ships offer greater firepower and agility, the Dropship can take a beating and still carry its pilot to victory.

Overview

The Federal Dropship is generally available for purchase at Stations controlled by minor factions that are aligned with the Federation. Systems controlled by Federal President Zachary Hudson are guaranteed to have the Dropship on hand, along with other Core Dynamics vessels. Its body shape and design is shared with the Federal Assault Ship and Federal Gunship, sometimes making it difficult to tell them apart at a glance. The Dropship is the cheapest of the three and has the lowest Federal Navy rank requirement.

The Dropship is a very good combat vessel. Featuring one Class 3 hardpoint and four Class 2 hardpoints, it has no trouble dealing with ships lower than its price and can put up a good fight against even higher tier ships like Pythons. Furthermore, the Dropship has above-average armour as well as two Military Compartments, giving it additional bulk. It suffers from weak shielding and has rather poor mobility, so it is difficult to use against nimble ships like the Vulture. Overall, the Dropship is a respectable ship for both a Bounty Hunter or a Pirate, but more likely to be used as a stepping stone on the path to a stronger vessel.

As a freighter, the Dropship has a respectable 164T of cargo space, making it the sixth best of all non-large ships. This combined with its impressive defense makes the Dropship a solid choice as a trade ship. However, two of the biggest downsides to this is its very low jump range and poor maneuverability, making interdictions difficult to break.

As an explorer, the Dropship is notorious as one of the worst ships in the role with a poor jump range of 19.66 LY or so, the second lowest jump range in the game, being only a fraction higher than the Federal Gunship. This makes the Dropship a subpar, cumbersome choice as an exploration vessel, even after engineering.

The Dropship is an excellent miner. Four medium hardpoints for one of each mining tool, while retaining a large hardpoint for self defense, small size, great cargo space and good defences make the Dropship a fantastic miner and can be a miner's next stepping stone after the Keelback. Its only downsides are its lack of a Fighter Hangar and its limited jump range, which can make reaching specific mining zones a chore.

Federal Dropship hardpoint convergence

The weapon hardpoints are located as follows: two side-mounted Class 2 hardpoints in front of the lower wings, two underside Class 2 hardpoints located slightly behind the point at which the front fuselage tapering ends, and one underside Class 3 hardpoint beneath the nose of the ship and slightly forward of the front fuselage tapering. Although all hardpoints have good to excellent fields of fire when fitted with turrets, the side mounted hardpoints benefit the most from turrets.

Purchase Locations

System	Station	Date Seen	Discount
Shinrarta Dezhra	Jameson Memorial	Always available	10% discount
Brestla	i Sola Prospect	Always available	20% surcharge
G 35-15	Kirchoff Hub	Feb. 03, 2020	15% discount
Dinda	Mount Sunday	Feb. 03, 2020	15% discount
Met 20	Brady Ring	Feb. 03, 2020	15% discount
Ix	Scully-Power Station	Feb. 03, 2020	15% discount
Duamta	Wang City	Feb. 03, 2020
Procyon	Hardwick Station	Feb. 03, 2020
Dulos	Wilson Ring	Feb. 03, 2020
Beta-3 Tucani	Bakewell Platform	Feb. 03, 2020
Gliese 563.1	Matteucci Ring	Feb. 03, 2020
CR Draconis	Andreas Horizons	Feb. 03, 2020
Bolg	Moxon's Mojo	Feb. 16, 2022

Outfitting

Main article: Outfitting

All ships are highly customisable through the Outfitting menu of Station Services. Listed below is the default load-out for the Federal Dropship.

Category	Default System	Default Rating	Default Class	Max Class
Medium Hardpoint	Pulse Laser (L)	F	1	2
	Pulse Laser (L)	F	1	2
	Empty	--	--	2
	Empty	--	--	2
Large Hardpoint	Empty	--	--	3
Utility Mount	Empty	--	--	0
	Empty	--	--	0
	Empty	--	--	0
	Empty	--	--	0
Bulkheads	Lightweight Alloys	I	1	8
Reactor Bay	Power Plant	E	6	6
Thrusters Mounting	Thrusters	E	6	6
Frame Shift Drive Housing	Frame Shift Drive	E	5	5
Environment Control	Life Support	E	5	5
Power Coupling	Power Distributor	E	6	6
Sensor Suite	Sensors	E	4	4
Fuel Store	Fuel Tank [x16]	C	4	4
Internal Compartments	Empty	--	--	6
	Cargo Rack [x32]	E	5	6
	Cargo Rack [x16]	E	4	5
	Shield Generator	E	5	5
	Cargo Rack [x8]	E	3	4
	Empty (M)	--	--	4
	Empty (M)	--	--	4
	Empty	--	--	3
	Empty	--	--	3
	Empty	--	--	2
	Supercruise Assist	E	1	1
	(PAS)	I	1	1

• (L) = Loaned Module
• [x#] = Capacity
• (PAS) = Reserved solely for the Planetary Approach Suite or Advanced Planetary Approach Suite
• (M) = Military Compartment reserved for Hull Reinforcement Package, Module Reinforcement Package, Shield Cell Bank, Guardian Shield Reinforcement Package, Guardian Hull Reinforcement Package, or Guardian Module Reinforcement Package

Trivia

• "Dropship" is a science fiction term for a type of orbit-to-planet military "landing craft", by analogy to those deployed from ships to land.
• The wings on the Dropship are front-swept, which is seen on some aircraft and helps with lift.

Videos

• File:The Federal Dropship Elite Dangerous
• File:Elite Dangerous - Beauty Of The Abyss part 5 "Sol"
• File:The Federal Dropship Review - A Midshipman's Reward? -Elite Dangerous-
• File:Introducing Federal Dropship in "Need for Speed" style - Elite Dangerous Short cinematic

Gallery

• 
  Core Dynamics Federal Dropship Blueprint
• 
  Federal Dropship with Midnight Black paint in a planetary ring
• 
  Federal Dropship docked
• 
  Federal Dropship cockpit
• 
  Federal Dropship cockpit front
• 
  Core Dynamics Federal Dropship art