Operations

File:Elite Dangerous Operations Key Art.jpg

Operations key art

Operations are multi-stage, variable challenge based scenarios. They are intended for a squad of up to 4 commanders, which allows for solo missions. The activities are on foot in megaships or within ships in space. The Odyssey expansion is required. This major update launched on 30 June 2026.

Overview

File:Megaship Interior Operations 1.jpg

Megaship interior

The scenarios take place on foot, in space or both. They are designed to offer the player and up to 3 other commanders challenging obstacles to overcome. They open some parts of ED never seen before such as the internals of a megaship in a hostile environment.

The initial release has multiple operations, with more being added overtime, and at various difficulty levels. Future operations might revolve around combat, some around mining, and more elements of ED. Operations are repeatable and give access to rewards that are hard to obtain elsewhere in the galaxy.

Guide

Initiate

File:Operation Squad Selector WIP.jpg

Operation lobby screen

Start an operation while docked by opening the Right Hand Panel in your ship HUD at any Starport, Outpost, Fleet Carrier or surface port. Select Operations in the home tab. You can choose "Join a squad", "Mercenary Operations" or "Powerplay Operations" to undermine a chosen Power in Powerplay. Then pick 1 operation and a difficulty mode: easy or hard. The matchmaking system can fill the empty slots of your squad. There is 1 squad leader and 3 members. You can also manually invite friends or mercenaries. The scenarios are unoptimized for solo which makes it more challenging. Having the right loadout, engineer mods and tactics makes a big difference.

Operation Runner

The Operation Runner is a non-flyable, capital ship from which team members start an operation, respawn and extract.

The squad is instantly transported from lobby to the Operation Runner. This bypasses normal travel time and deploys you straight into the designated star system.

The Runner acts as your central hub, respawn point, resupply vessel. Every operation starts and concludes on it. Even for operation types where the combat part take place on foot you have to launch in your ship from the Runner, fly to mission site, dock and disembark. It offers ship repairs, re-arming and refueling, all for free. Players can leave the mission area in their ship, supercruise back to the Runner, dock and repair, re-arm and recharge shields.

Respawn

If your ship is destroyed during the operation, you will instantly respawn aboard the Runner with your ship fully repaired, refueled, and re-armed.

If you are killed on-foot, you will respawn inside a hangar where you disembarked from your ship into action. Eg. inside a megaship, where on-foot part of the operation takes place. You will have full health and will be resupplied. Respawns are unlimited. Deaths do not affect operation's success, score or rewards.

Tips

All Synthesis is free while in Operation. You carry copy of your current stock of materials from main game into every operation. No matter what you spend during Operation, after the mission you will have same amount of materials as before.

NPCs and their properties, like access level, are to an extent randomly generated. In some instances of the same Operation some gear may not be required to finish the objectives, while in other instances it will be. For example in Operation Biohazard Takedown an NPC with level 3 access may randomly appear, and if the NPC's profile is cloned by a teammate then the Maverick Suit is not required anymore to force-open doors to complete the mission. It is still advised to always bring all required gear anyway to not soft lock yourself.

For Operations with on-foot parts, having one of 3-4 team members in Maveric suit can be beneficial. There are always locked cabinets with Consumables, and in some Operations optional locked doors.

For the same reason, all team members may bring E-breach hacking devices, to force-open locked crates with. There is no downside, as all NPCs are always hostile anyway and don't care about carried contraband. E-Breaches have to be manually added to backpack though, even on respawn after death.

Rewards

Successful completion of the operation objectives yields rewards: Merc Coin, credits and both Ship Engineering materials and Personal equipment Engineering materials.

Merc Coins can be spent on special rewards like special ship modules, blueprints to engineer them further, and exclusive on-foot gear mods that are otherwise difficult to acquire in the galaxy.

A maximum of 9999 Merc Coin can be accumulated. Additionally, a weekly allowance of 1000 limits earnings; this is a soft limit, since players can continue to earn Merc Coins at a lower payout after they reach that.

Upgrade

It is recommended to upgrade your weapons and suit grade at Pioneer Supplies. Apply specific modifications via specialized Engineers to boosts survivability like damage resistance, shield regen, ammo capacity or battery capacity. This increases the chances of survival for solo players and squads. For hard difficulty it's best to have 3-4 squadmates with fully engineered gear.

The NPC ships are often engineered. So flying an unmodified ship is a disadvantage. Engineering your ship can increase the firepower, shields, speed and maneuverability.

Modes

Operation mode	Description
Mercenary	This is the default mode for Operations. It carries no consequences or Powerplay effects, and is fully accessible to any Commanders who meet the scenario requirements.
Powerplay	Adding a layer of strategic depth, squads are able to undermine a chosen Power as part of an Operation. Eligible systems are determined by the Squad Leader's Power alignment and current location, ensuring Commander's can't target their own Power. Unaligned Commanders can join these scenarios but they will not earn any Merits.

Operation types

There are 7 operations. All operations are designed for squads. They can be completed solo, but this is more difficult. There are 2 difficulty modes: easy and hard. The table includes descriptions and recommendations by Frontier.

Operation	Description	Objective	Recommended Players	On Foot / In Space	Recommended Gear (Easy)	Recommended Gear (Hard)
Biohazard Takedown	"A group of researchers is developing a dangerous weapon, you need to assault the ship, obtain the location and IDs of the researchers and take them out."	Assault a bioweapon creation Megaship, identify those responsible, find their location and eliminate them.	2 - 4	On Foot	Grade 1/2 On Foot | A Rated Ship (No Engineering)	Grade 4/5 On Foot | Grade 4/5 Engineering
Firestorm Rescue	"There are hostages trapped in a burning station, break the siege and evacuate those that remain. You will need to manage the station's heat to buy enough time to complete the rescue while dealing with the hostile forces trying to stop you."	Rescue the inhabitants of a burning station that is under siege. Fight off pirate ships and blow off door clamps whilst guiding the inhabitants to safety.	3 - 4	Space	A Rated Ship (Two players in an evac ship, one in combat ship)	Grade 5 On Foot | Grade 4/5 Engineering (Two players in an evac ship, one in combat ship)
Rapid Response	"A planetary port has come under attack and some personnel are still trapped inside who need rescuing. You cannot delay, as a huge hostile fleet is on the way. If the evacuation is not completed in time, there will be no hope for those still inside."	Rescue the inhabitants of a surface port before the attacking forces return with reinforcements and neutralize them.	3 - 4	Space	A Rated Ship (Two players in an evac ship)	(Two players in an evac ship)
Reclamation Point	"The megaship has been hijacked, your job is to eliminate all hostile forces in and around the megaship so the client can recover it. You'll need your best gear and ship to accomplish your goal."	Fight to reach a hijacked megaship, kill the hostile looters and battle enemy ships on your way back to safety before time runs out.	2 - 4	Both	Grade 1/2 On Foot | A Rated Ship	Grade 4/5 Engineering
Tactical Takedown	"The client's megaship has been compromised by a rival faction, you will need to board the ship and fight your way through the command deck to obtain intel and trace the origin of the attack. Then you'll want to bring your firepower to bear on the general responsible for the attack at their home base."	Fight your way in space to stolen megaship, infiltrate it on-foot, learn who is responsible for the attack, assault their home base in ship.	3 - 4	Both	Grade 1/2 On Foot | A Rated Ship	Grade 4/5 Engineering
Terminal Prosecution	"A criminal element is causing trouble in the system, they've been raiding for weeks now, it's your job to clear them out."	Eliminate pirate ships that are ravaging a system. Take out much of the pirate fleet to taunt their boss into a fight.	2 - 4	Space	A Rated Ship (Low Level Engineering)	Full Grade 5 Engineering
Under Siege	"Respond to a distress call from a planetary settlement, where urgent help is required to help lift a blockade and neutralise enemy forces attempting to take the settlement."	Clear the skies before diving into a firefight within the planetary settlement's facilities. Once you've regained control, you'll need to scramble back to your ship to take on a larger threat.	2 - 4	Both	Grade 1/2 On Foot | A Rated Ship	Grade 4/5 Engineering

Guides

Biohazard Takedown

This mission requires on-foot combat only. Hostile ships are present, which can be fought or evaded.

Required gear

• One player in Maveric suit

Recommended gear

• Rest of players in Dominator suits

Firestorm Rescue

The whole operation takes place in ships only. Hostile ships are present, which can be fought or evaded.

Required gear

• At least one rescue capable ship - with Economy class passenger cabins
• At least one ship with weapons
• At least one ship equipped with Recon Limpet Controller and limpets

Recommended gear

• 2 large rescue-dedicated ships - with large passenger capacity
• 2 ships for ship-to-ship combat

Rapid Response

The whole operation takes place in ships only. Ship-to-ship combat is required.

Required gear

• At least one rescue capable ship - with Economy class passenger cabins

Recommended gear

• 2-3 large rescue-dedicated ships - with large passenger capacity
• 1-2 ships for ship-to-ship combat

Reclamation Point

Ship-to-ship combat is required. On foot combat inside a megaship is required.

Required gear

• At least one ship for ship-to-ship combat

Recommended gear

• All ships with at least 1000 shield strength. Otherwise they may be (repeatedly) destroyed before being able to launch from the megaship
• 4 ships geared for ship-to-ship combat
• All players in Dominator suits

Tactical Takedown

Ship-to-ship combat is required. On foot combat inside megaship is required.

Required gear

• At least one ship for ship-to-ship combat

Recommended gear

• 4 ships geared for ship-to-ship combat
• All players in Dominator suits
• All players stocked with Shield projector hand grenades

Terminal Prosecution

Th whole operation is ship-to-ship combat in space.

Required gear

• At least one ship for ship-to-ship combat

Recommended gear

• 4 ships geared for ship-to-ship combat

Under Siege

Requires ship-to-ship combat and on foot combat on planet surfaces in Odyssey settlements. Optional use of SRVs.

Required gear

• At least one ship for ship-to-ship combat

Recommended gear

• 4 ships geared for ship-to-ship combat
• 3 players in Dominator suits
• 1 player in Maverick Suit

Statistics

Technical Lead Roger reported on 30 July 2026:

• Over 130,000 Operations started
• Over 75% of all started Operations were successfully completed
• Most Popular Operation: Biohazard Takedown

Development

File:ED Operations Roadmap.jpg

Operations Roadmap

Operations was unveiled during the ED Developer Log - 4 November 2025 on the ED YouTube channel. The original release date was winter 2025 which was postponed to early 2026. The first stage was a balancing pass of on-foot combat, NPC combat behaviour, rebalanced suits and weapons, and AI improvements. This was part of the free Caspian Explorer update on 2 Dec 2025.

Operations was further delayed in April 2026 to 30 June 2026, citing a need for 'quality and care'. To compensate for the delay, Frontier released the passenger liner Lynx Highliner straight into access for credits on 28 April 2026. It skipped the usual ARX period.

There are 6 operations at launch, and a Networking & Balancing beta. Additional operations, bug fixes & various improvements will be added later. Under Siege is the 7th operation which was added on 2 Sep 2026.

Videos

• File:Elite Dangerous - Developer Log - 4 November 2025
• File:Elite Dangerous - Developer Log - 16 February 2026
• File:Elite Dangerous - Operations - Release Trailer
• File:Elite Dangerous - Under Siege- Solo Hard - new operation
• File:I Did The Math On Merc Coins... The Internet Was Right - Elite Dangerous

Gallery

• Megaship Interior Operations 1 WIP
  Megaship Interior Operations 1 WIP
• Burning Rescue WIP
  Burning Rescue WIP
• Squad WIP
  Squad WIP
• Combat WIP
  Combat WIP
• Operation Squad Selector WIP
  Operation Squad Selector WIP
• Operations Roadmap
  Operations Roadmap
• Elite Dangerous Operations Key Art
  Elite Dangerous Operations Key Art
• Operation Under Siege
  Operation Under Siege