Kappa-class shuttle

The Kappa-class shuttle was a Galactic Republic-era shuttle that possessed many features which were later incorporated into the Imperial Lambda-class shuttle.

Characteristics
The Kappa-class had an angled cockpit area with wide viewport, a ventral debarkation hatch, and three stubby stabilization fins. It was designed to transport troops directly into a hot landing zone. Its blaster cannons protected the shuttle during flight, while its repeating blaster cannons cleared its destined landing area of any enemy forces, thus allowing the shuttle to establish a safe zone for its carried platoon to disembark.

The Kappa-class shuttle featured an aft vehicle bay containing either two AT-RT or AT-PT walkers. Port and starboard exit hatches from the vehicle bay allowed the walkers to disembark via two aft ramps. The walkers provided heavy firepower and armor support to ground troops landing in a combat zone. This concept saw limited employment on the battlefield since the Kappa-class shuttle was replaced with newer dropships.