Terrapin

The Anvil U4A-3 Terrapin is an armored vehicle designed for overwatch, long-endurance picket, and to add reconnaissance capabilities to the fleet, as well as extend the UEE Navy’s ability to provide a patrol presence to border systems that couldn’t be allocated capital ships or large fighter garrisons for defense. It features an oversized shield generator and a reinforced plated hull, because of which the Terrapin can withstand extreme environment as well as formidable hostile contacts. The Terrapin comes standard with top-of-class long-range radar. It is a favored explorer ship among military veterans who opt to continue flying after their service, many of them having already come to know it’s reliability, ease of repair and never-say-die attitude. As secondary roles, it is said that the Terrapin can be used for both Search and Rescue and as Troop Transport.

Cooling Mechanism
Due to the Terrapin's thick armor however, the ship has insufficient capacity to vent its heat. To vent this excess heat, the armor panels can be retracted, a mechanic that has been described as to 'come up for air'.

Development
The Terrapin is developed in 2796 to serve as the first ship in the Empire's defensive restructuring of the Navy. It is also the first full production ship that Anvil Aerospace has fabricated under direct Naval contract. It is developed in an Anvil plant located in Nova Kiev, Terra under lead designer J.Harris Arnold and lead engineer Allegra Wilsing.

Naval assessment
In 2796, the UEE ship assessment review team led by Vice Admiral Galen Whishaw is commanded by the High Command to assess if the Terrapin should be included in the UEE military.

Mentioned in

 * Star Citizen: Full Gamescom 2016 Presentation @ 22 minutes and 23 seconds
 * Star Citizen: Full Gamescom 2016 Presentation @ 22 minutes and 23 seconds