Orca aircraft

The ORCA series of airborne vehicles were introduced in the latter parts of the First Tiberium War, in the form of the ORCA Assault Craft. The main feature of the system was the abandonment of the classic rotary wing propulsion with twin jet engines on articulate mounts, which was more suited for VTOL aircraft. The Orca project carried the designation AD02/337.

The first model (upper left image) was exceptionally fast and lightly armoured, with ten Dragon TOW missiles in its side-mounted rocket pods and a chin-mounted cannon. Its speed allowed it to outrun most surface-to-air rockets and quickly hit armoured units and unprotected buildings with surgical precision. The first ORCA Assault Craft was also compact enough to be transported and deployed from special cargo trailers.

During the gap between the first two Tiberium Wars, GDI perfected the ORCA technology, adopting the acronym as codename for the series of the powerful VTOL aircraft. In addition to perfecting the technology and upgrading the original ORCA Assault Craft (middle left image), several specialized variants were developed, including a mighty Orca Bomber (lower left), which carried highly destructive explosive munitions designed to wreak havoc against buildings and armor alike, although at the expense of speed. Another variant was the Orca Transport (lower right), a long, lightly armoured air transport craft, designed to move people and light equipment over vast distances as quickly as possible. For hauling heavy military ordnance two aircraft were designed - the Orca Carry-All (middle right), a large flying crane, with engines powerful enough to airlift even the immense, prototype Mammoth Mk. IIs, and the Orca Dropship (upper right), which could ferry large amounts of battle walkers onto the battlefield.

Another variant, the Orca Command craft, was designed and manufactured. These aircraft would serve as mobile command centers for GDI commanders world-wide. One of the more famous, designated 3A and code-named Kodiak, served as GDI's Field Commander Michael McNeil 's command vessel. After the Kodiak's crash, a new, upgraded version, the Huron, was developed for frontline command.

In the Third Tiberium War, GDI evaluated the performance of the Orca aircraft and continued to evaluate and refine the technology. The Orca Fighter was upgraded and integrated into the GDI military as a tactical support craft, with it's role of ground support craft taken over by the Orca Gunship. The Orca Carryall was drastically redesigned into a versatile transport craft. The resulting vehicle was drastically different from the original craft and renamed, as the V-35 Ox.

The main disadvantage of the Orca technology was its susceptibility to electromagnetic interference from Ion Storms, which almost proved to be the cause of Kodiak's destruction, as it was grounded during such a storm and ambushed by Nod forces. Following the conclusion fo the Second Tiberium War, the Kodiak was shielded against such interference, allowing it to secure the Tacitus at the Cairo site. However, its design wasn't resistant to Ion Storm lightning, which destroyed one of its engines and caused it to crash-land in north Africa.