Why the Argo MPUV Is the Best Dropship in Star Citizen
Why the Argo MPUV Is the Best Dropship in Star Citizen
In the world of Star Citizen, dropships play a crucial role in delivering troops and cargo to their destinations. While many players may overlook the Argo MPUV Personnel due to its lack of weapons and quantum drive, this small but mighty dropship has much to offer.
In this article, we’ll explore the history of troop transport helicopters—the dropship’s closest analog—in real-world conflicts and compare their capabilities to those of the MPUV-1P. We’ll also analyze the strengths and weaknesses of this unique dropship and show how it can be effectively employed in a variety of scenarios.
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Key takeaways
The Argo MPUV Personnel is a useful and effective dropship for transporting troops and cargo despite its lack of weapons and quantum drive.
The Argo MPUV relies on stealth and speed, leveraging low emissions, a small radar cross section, and terrain features to conceal its approach and departure.
Combat-dedicated ships should be used to escort, screen, distract, or eliminate potential threats, while the Argo MPUV focuses on its primary role of delivering or retrieving troops and supplies.
The Argo MPUV Personnel is the smallest 8-passenger ship in Star Citizen, and can be carried by a wide variety of larger ships which can provide quantum travel.
A brief history of small unit tactical lift
Ever since their inception, lightly armed or completely unarmed helicopters have been used to deliver troops for air assault, airmobile, and infiltration operations. Such helicopters were instrumental in air assaults during the Algerian War, the Suez Canal Crisis, the Rhodesian Bush War, and the Korean and Vietnam wars. In many of these historical instances, rarely were the helicopters used for troop transport equipped with more than a light machine gun for defense—if at all.
For example, French forces used Piasecki H-21C Workhorse helicopters to transport troops into battle during the Algerian War of 1954. They were sometimes armed with a single 12.7 mm M2 Browning machine gun. However, the gun was intended to be used defensively when landing assault forces under fire.1 Toward the end of the war, H-21Cs were typically escorted into combat zones by a separate element of Sikorsky H-34 ground-attack helicopters, which would engage hostile ground forces.
During the Suez Crisis of 1956, Operation Musketeer saw 45 Commando of the British Royal Marines transported into a combat zone by unarmed Westland Whirlwinds launched from HMS Theseus, a light fleet carrier. The landing was successful, and 45 Commando went on to capture Port Said.
As the 1961 Overseas War unfolded, the Portuguese Air Force made extensive use of Sud-Aviation Alouette II and Alouette III helicopters. Although they were primarily used in the casualty evacuation role early on, the Alouette III in particular became crucial to Portugal’s ability to rapidly deploy ground forces. In this role, unarmed Alouette IIIs (called “Larks”) were escorted and defended by dedicated gunship versions (called “Falcons”) as they delivered soldiers into combat zones.
Both the Alouette III and Bell UH-1 Iroquois—or “Huey”—were used in the Rhodesian Bush War of 1964. They were initially selected for their agility, ability to operate in rugged terrain, and capacity to carry troops. They were escorted by dedicated gunships called “K-cars”, as well as light ground-attack aircraft. Troop transport variants—called “G-cars”—would later be equipped with one FN MAG 7.62 mm machine gun which in turn was replaced by twin Browning .303 machine guns. Interestingly, the Brownings were noted for not being particularly effective.2 As such, 20mm cannon-equipped K-car escorts and ground-attack aircraft continued to supply the vast majority of offensive firepower.
Throughout the Vietnam War, the Piasecki CH-21 Shawnee was used to drop air cavalry units behind enemy lines. Initially unarmed, they were given door gunners with light machine guns for self-defense. Eventually, the CH-21 was replaced by the Huey. Although troop-carrying Hueys, called “Slicks”, carried a door gunner with a light machine gun, they still relied on an escort of dedicated Huey gunships for protection. The Huey gunships would keep hostile ground forces engaged, allowing the Slicks to complete their mission of delivering troops to the combat zone.3
1971’s Indo-Pakistani War saw the creation of the Meghna Heli Bridge, which used over a dozen Mil Mi-4 helicopters to move an entire battalion into a combat zone. The Mi-4s did so under the cover of night and were reportedly escorted by a pair of Folland Gnats. Although it’s unclear if the Mi-4s were armed, they were never engaged in combat.4
In 1994, Operation Uphold Democracy saw the use of what was purported to be several completely unarmed Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawks to move troops.5 They were escorted by Bell AH-1 Cobras for protection.
Mil Mi-8 Hip helicopters were used in an air assault on Antonov Airport during the Russian War on Ukraine in 2022. They were escorted by a pair of Kamov Ka-52 Alligators, and had several other combat-dedicated air assets to defend them. Despite the invading forces taking heavy losses, the Mi-8s successfully completed their mission to deploy Russian airborne troopers to an active combat zone.
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Deep intel on the Argo MPUV Personnel
The Argo MPUV Personnel (MPUV-1P) is a Size 1 personnel transport manufactured by Argo Astronautics. It’s 9.25 m long by 4.3 m high with an 8.5 m beam. It has a mass of 13,005 kg and a hull strength of 6,820 HP.
The MPUV-1P is powered by one Size 1 power plant and two Size 0 coolers, while avionics includes one Size 1 computer and one Size 1 radar.
Propulsion is provided by four main thrusters, two of which are vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) capable. The main thrusters are supported by 14 maneuvering thrusters—all of which are also Size 1. Two Size 1 hydrogen tanks supply 30,000 L (1.7 µSCU) of fuel.
The MPUV-1P can reach a peak performance SCM speed of 115 m/s and an overall maximum speed of 919 m/s, with 3.6 G of acceleration and 2.6 G of deceleration. The ship can reach its maximum speed in 18 seconds while in afterburn, while deceleration from maximum speed takes 33 seconds while in afterburn.
The MPUV-1P equips a single Size 1 shield generator and no weapons for defense. Its armor currently provides a 55% reduction in physical damage and a 10% reduction in energy damage.
Peak electromagnetic and infrared emissions are 4,301 EM and 7,641 IR respectively. These emissions drop to 3,557 EM and 3,033 IR while idle. Its radar cross section (CS) is 5,500.
A pilot serves as the sole crewman, while a rear underslung self-contained cabin can seat up to eight passengers. In addition to passengers, the ship can carry up to 2 SCU of personal equipment and provisions in stowage.
Patterns and analysis
Similar platforms, identical roles
Dropships and helicopters share many similarities in their roles and capabilities. Both are used to transport troops and cargo to their destinations, often in hostile environments. They’re able to bypass obstacles and terrain that would impede ground vehicles, allowing them to quickly and efficiently deliver their passengers to the desired location. Additionally, both dropships and helicopters can operate in a wide range of environments, making them versatile tools for military and civilian operations alike.
Throughout all of the mentioned instances of real-world tactical lift given as background, a few observations can be made. First, not all troop transport helicopters were armed. Second, the ones that were armed rarely engaged in combat; unsurprising as their weapons were often implied to be ineffective. Third, most were escorted by dedicated combat helicopters and warplanes, which is likely due to the troop transports’ inability to defend themselves. And last—but by no means least—all were successful in their mission to deliver soldiers into heavily contested combat zones.
An analysis of the MPUV-1P as a dropship
Compared to other ships of its size, the MPUV-1P is among the slowest and least maneuverable. However, it’s markedly faster than ground vehicles and “space bikes” like the Dragonfly, more heavily armored than a Pisces, and can carry four to eight times as many passengers as either.
In fact, the MPUV-1P is the smallest dropship that can carry more than two passengers. It has the same passenger capacity as the Anvil Spartan rover and Aegis Hoplite. However, it can operate in more environments and can bypass obstacles that would impede a rover. Meanwhile, the MPUV-1P’s small size means it has little trouble disguising its approach with terrain or finding a usable landing zone.
One of the additional benefits of the MPUV-1P is that it can fit into a much wider range of hangars, vehicle garages, and cargo bays than either the Spartan or the Hoplite. This in turn allows the MPUV-1P to be transported across vast distances by use of a mothership’s quantum drive, negating the need for a quantum drive of its own.
Based on figures provided by SC Ships Performances Viewer, the MPUV-1P has an estimated operating time of between 80 and 149 minutes, depending on whether or not the ship is being aggressively maneuvered. On the most conservative end of the spectrum, that allows for an operating radius of at least 276 km. At an SCM speed of 115 m/s (414 km/h), it would take an MPUV-1P about 20 minutes to travel 138 km. At the MPUV’s max speed of 919 m/s (3,308.4 km/h), that time shrivels to barely 5 minutes. In either case, a round trip takes less than 45 minutes to accomplish.
In terms of defense, the MPUV-1P appears to have so little that it’s often mistakenly considered to have none at all. A more accurate interpretation of the facts is that the MPUV-1P relies on its low emissions signature and radar cross section to escape notice, thus working to bypass the possibility of being engaged altogether.
The MPUV-1P doesn’t have any weapon racks. However, its 2,000 µSCU stowage is more than enough to meet eight infantry troops’ weapon, ammunition, sustenance, medical, and utility storage needs. The MPUV-1P’s stowage combined with its low operating cost makes it a cheap mule for a logistical train intended to reinforce and resupply infantry.
An important consideration for the future of the game
There’s the likelihood that the passenger module will be detachable in the future. When this becomes the case, the MPUV-1P will be able to leave its passenger pod at the landing zone, simplifying debarkation and providing infantry with temporary shelter from hostile climates. It may even be possible for the MPUV-1P to safely jettison the passenger pod at a low altitude while in flight, negating the need to land or even stop.
Simply put, this small dropship can execute rapid insertions and extractions of personnel into areas its larger cousins (like the Anvil Valkyrie and Aegis Hoplite) can’t reach, at speeds slower alternatives (like the Spartan and Dragonfly) just can’t achieve.
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Operational doctrine for the MPUV-1P
A popular view that trips up many legacy thinkers is believing that the MPUV-1P is a poor dropship just because it’s weaponless. They overlook that a dropship’s primary role is to safely deliver its passengers and cargo to a landing zone, not to pick a fight with anti-aerospace defenses. A dropship that’s purposely drawing fire by choosing to engage in combat—while exciting—isn’t operating safely or executing its primary role. Therefore, as an MPUV-1P dropship pilot, you should play to the ship’s strengths rather than its weaknesses.
The MPUV-1P is more difficult for your enemy to observe than other dropships. Its low signatures mean that it’s less likely to be detected at range by radar. Meanwhile, as a pilot or operational planner, you can leverage its small size against terrestrial and celestial terrain features, using them to mask the dropship’s presence long enough to accomplish the objective.
Dropships fight when there’s no alternative
A dropship should only fight when there’s absolutely no other alternative. Therefore, to mitigate the MPUV-1P’s lack of weapons, all you have to do is make sure there are plenty of alternatives to having it get directly involved in combat. The first alternative, obviously, is planning operations around low observability—as highlighted earlier.
But another prudent alternative is to use combat-dedicated ships to pick fights with potential threats. Advance scouts or escorts can be used to screen, distract, engage, and eliminate anti-aerospace threats in high-threat environments. With hostility deflected away from the MPUV-1P, it can complete its mission to deploy or retrieve friendly troops regardless of whether or not it’s detected.
In an absolute worst-case scenario, it’s possible for an unseated passenger to fire out of the back door with infantry weapons at ground targets or ships in pursuit. Suggested weapons for this role would be an LMG, a powerful sniper rifle like the P6-LR, GP-33 grenade launcher, or a Scourge railgun. It might even be possible to use an Animus missile launcher… but that hypothesis should be tested first. Keep in mind that if you’re the pilot, you may need to carefully govern your inputs so as to prevent disrupting or harming such an ad-hoc door gunner during maneuvers.
No quantum, no problem
Another trap of legacy thinking is getting hung up on the MPUV-1P’s lack of a quantum drive. Here, legacy thinkers fail to account for the fact that the tiny dropship can be carried by a range of other large ships—often en mass. A mothership provides a de facto quantum capability, thus making the MPUV-1P’s lack of a quantum drive immaterial to its employment as a light dropship.
But there’s another advantage that legacy thinkers often find themselves funneled away from realizing. Most ships that are large enough to carry an MPUV-1P can carry many more than just one. That means that multiple units of infantry can be strategically lifted to a region via the mothership, and then tactically deployed via MPUV-1P to different areas of that region at the same time. If necessary, the mothership itself can even be used to engage hostile threats without putting an MPUV-1P or its passengers into harm’s way.
Additionally, since the larger a ship is the faster and longer-range quantum drive it typically has, a carried MPUV-1P can in fact travel further, faster, and with fewer pitstops. As a result, carrying multiple MPUV-1Ps in a mothership is a much more economical choice than using multiple quantum-capable dropships at both the high and low ends of the spectrum when it comes to distance.
Another mistaken conclusion induced by such legacy thinking is that—due to the lack of a quantum drive—the MPUV-1P can’t navigate on its own, even over short distances. Legacy thinkers believe this because the current iteration of the Starmap doesn’t allow players to create and save a flight route, and thus generate a destination beacon to fly to, unless the ship has a quantum drive. But a competent pilot can navigate to a location with a variety of common techniques.
In one such technique, the MPUV-1P’s pilot can use the compass to follow a known heading to their destination from their current location. This can be combined with the use of terrain features, which can be used as navigational markers. In fact, this is exactly how Ghost Hollow, the wreck of the UEES Flyssa on Daymar, and many other unmarked points of interest are routinely found by average Star Citizen players every day.
Another method of navigation is to have the MPUV-1P be guided by the crew of the mothership, who can provide the MPUV-1P pilot with an absolute or relative bearing. This is functionally identical to how small aircraft, usually without reliable GPS, are guided by airports and ground stations in the real world.
And, of course, a beacon can always be used by any friendly personnel—such as a special reconnaissance unit—who are already on or near the intended drop zone.
Shrader, Charles R. “The First Helicopter War: Logistics and Mobility in Algeria, 1954-1962”, Praeger, 30 Jun 1999.
Wood, Richard T. “Counter-Strike from the Sky: The Rhodesian All-Arms Fireforce in the War in the Bush 1974–1980”, 30 Degrees South Publishers, 22 Jan 2020.
The History Guy: History Deserves to Be Remembered. “Assault Helicopter Companies of the Vietnam War”, YouTube, 3 Aug 2020, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9avXEVQ7AQ
Singh, Chandrakant. “4 GUARDS CROSSES THE MEGHNA”, Salute, 25 Jan 2022, https://salute.co.in/4-guards-crosses-the-meghna/
Anonymous. “1994 - Color, USA Military: Operation Uphold Democracy, 10th Mountain Div. Helicopter Activity, CVN-69”, 1994, Haiti, color film, 00:18:08, footagefarm.co.uk
Neat idea, in-game I feel like the Picese gets used a fair amount in the dropship role for bunker assaults the Argo would slot in to the same role pretty well. On the larger scale a Cutlass Steel with escorts makes a more compelling argument than one without.