The Gamma-class ATR-6 assault transport and its many variants is a heavily armed and shielded vessel produced by KonGar Ship Works originally designed for transporting troops and conducting boarding actions against starships and space stations. The Rebel Alliance and various pirate factions also make wide usage of the craft. The shuttle is not hyperspace-capable and is typically transported aboard a capital ship.
The base assault version of the ATR-6 has two general purpose warhead launchers, and a pair of forward-firing ion cannons. Both are designed to ferry troops into the combat zone to capture enemy craft. The ATR-6 has no frontal laser cannons, however it has four turrets: dorsal, ventral, port and starboard. This configuration allows the ATR-6 to fire upon its target without having to fly directly at it. Its turrets, coupled with heavier shielding and armor, allows an ATR-6 to press assualts in the face of heavy fire. The ATR-6 also features stronger shields and a more heavily reinforced hull than earlier assault shuttle designs. While most assault shuttles can be destroyed with a pair of proton torpedoes, it has been reported that an ATR-6 can survive three hits from such warheads.
Multiple variants of the ATR-6 exist. When referenced against multiple models, the base design is referred to as an ATR-6/A. Other variants are indicated below:
Type A: initial all-purpose design with side turrets and pop-up dorsal and ventral turrets. This is a legacy design developed for the Republic and is no longer in production nor in use by the Imperial Navy.- Type B Equipment Lander: droid and vehicle lander variant; troop landing bay has been modified to enable quick deployment of support droids and vehicles. This design was widely used by the Republic, but is being phased out by the Imperial Navy in favor of more modern and hyperspace-capable shuttle types.
- Type C Forward Medical Lander: forward medical triage and support variant. This variant is most often found outside of the core worlds and typical being used as frontier medical facilities by local or regional governments.
- Type D Advanced Civilian Transport: This is a logistics and supply variant similar to the Type B except detuned for civilian use and configured for cargo loads. This version of the ATR-6 lacks the fittings for the ion cannons and the torpedo package has been replaced with a tractor beam. KonGar still produces this model for corporate space-to-ground cargo transport in hostile regions.
- Type EX Special Terrain Transport: This version is a rare experimental design intended for high temperature and hostile physical environments. It is equipped with specialized repulser-equipped landing gear and a deployable repulser debarkation pad to simplify troop deployment over unsafe terrain. Approximately 100 were constructed by the Republic; none are known to exist within the Imperial Navy.
- Type F Surface Protection Transport: This variant was developed in response to the deployment of Trade Federation droid armies. This is a heavily armed version designed to be deployed at forward bases to provide immediate ground and air defense. This version does not have a ventral turret, but adds a second dorsal turret with an ion cannon that is linked to a dedicated advanced anti-ship gunnery computer. It includes communications jamming equipment, and in place of the plasma torpedo launchers and weapon storage, an anti-droid, anti-ship EMP pulse generator is installed. The EMP pulse generator has a 1km blast radius at takes 20 minutes to recycle after it is used, during which time all ion cannons are offline; during the recharge period only the laser cannon turrets are available.
Type G: This variant marks the beginning of the post-Clone War Imperial revisions to the original ATR-6 design. This SoroSuub replacement for the Type A is designed to improve maneuverability in dense atmospheres. The hull is physically wider with a sleeker overall hull shape, dorsal tail and winglets.- Type H Military Advanced Transport: This SoroSuub variant is a replacement for the Type D designed to improve maneuverability in dense atmospheres and based on the Type G. Unlike the Type D, the Type H retains all of its military systems except for the torpedo package (replaced by a tractor beam) and is exclusively sold to sector and planetary security forces.
- Type I Special Operations Transport: This SoroSuub variant is based on the Type G, this is an electronic warfare, countermeasures, intelligence gathering and communications variant; indistinguishable from the Type G, the Type I has an array of hidden deployable antennas and sensor packages that reveal its true purpose when deployed.
Type YX Surface Command Transport: This is a rare experimental hyperspace-capable variant built by SoroSuub, which is distinguishable from the Type G by its significantly larger size, exposed dorsal-mounted forward laser cannon and engine package. While physically larger, it is still fundamentally based on the original ATR-6 design but reflects the SoroSuub philosophy of transforming a base architecture into high volume hull. As a result, atmospheric maneuverability suffers from the increased mass and loses some of its rapid deployment advantages. These ships are often found in use as command shuttles paired with one ore more Type F Surface Protection Transports.