The Horizont design was drawn up after the taking of Tirol, with its specifications based on the experience of years of aerospace operations while searching for the home world of the Robotech Masters, and on the experience gained while taking Tirol from the Invid. These campaigns had been waged with the Predator Drop Ships. However, the REF had both suffered losses among these ships and ascertained that the Predator, while armed and fast, lacked the bulk cargo space required. Hence, the REF Naval Command drew up specifications for a new drop ship design that would replace the Predator ships.
The resulting ship was based on a new cargo delivering methodology. Rather than having the drop ship fight its way through to the surface, like the Predator was designed to do, the new Horizont would be escorted down by heavy fighter cover. The deletion of the armament, as well as advances in engine design and anti-gravity pods, gave the Horizont almost 500% more cargo capacity over the Predator at almost no additional mass. The cargo was no longer carried internally, but in two detachable cargo pods. This system made it more flexible to set up temporary bases and repair facilities.
As the Horizont could accelerate to orbit again and pick up a new load when the older design would be either grounded or unloading, the cargo throughput of the new shuttle system was increased overall. Furthermore, keeping in mind the space borne nature of most REF operations, extra safety for the crew was provided for by using a space-capable escape pod. The Horizont was thus produced at Tirol beginning in mid-2028. Although the Horizont did meet every specification, it was not liked very much by the people assigned to fly it. The long, thin neck and slender wings conveyed too much of a sense of vulnerability too ease the minds of its crew. In addition to the defense being sacrificed for cargo capacity, the Horizont was not particularly comfortable, yet be manned almost constantly during battle deployments because of the limited docking space available.
The Horizonts' crews' apprehension about their crafts' vulnerabilities was proven correct in the Invid campaigns, when it became clear that the Horizont could not withdraw in time if it was engaged in loading or unloading, and that the design was particularly vulnerable during re-entry. Because of this, the main use for the Horizonts in an attack role was the dropping of a large number of cargo boxes in a relatively undefended spot, and even then only under heavy fighter and warship escort. Even this could prove fatal if the enemy capabilities were misjudged, as evidenced by the disasters in Earth-space that befell this class. In those attacks, most Horizonts that survived the Invid burned up on re-entry in the atmosphere because they had let their speed reach too high a level trying to escape to safely enter the atmosphere.
Well over 650 of these vessels were produced, and though a large number of them were lost in battle against the Regent's Invid, most were lost over Earth in the Mars and Jupiter division descents. Only two in five of those in the Saturn Group, and of course the full Tirolian contingent, survived, although a few crashed reasonably intact to Earth. Though the crews were usually killed, the bunkers became gold mines for scavengers, and many of the mecha these bunkers carried fell into the hands of resistance fighters in the struggle against the Invid. Thus indirectly completing their mission.
The Horizont Troopship served the REF in the capacity of an all-weather, highly maneuverable delivery system for troops and supplies from space onto a planet surface. Though, due to their powerful thrusters and strong hulls, all REF vessels were capable of planetary landings, assuming the landing area was relatively flat, none of these ships were particularly maneuverable in an atmosphere. Only the Predator Drop Ships and the Horizont could deliver men and supplies into a fire fight and have a reasonable chance of leaving quickly.
The Horizont is rather like a very large aircraft, relying on aerodynamics and its large thrust to mass ratio for its atmospheric operations. In space, small vectorable nozzles take the place of the control surfaces on the wings. Furthermore, for atmospheric hovering operations, limited anti-gravity units can be activated for vertical take-off and landings, or to drop the cargo pods from a low altitude without landing. Under either wing of the Horizont an enormous bunker, capable of carrying men, mecha, cargo, or a specialized Command-Control-Communications-Intelligence bunker, can be mounted. The Alpha-Beta fighter combination is stored on the underbelly of the Horizont, between the two bunkers.
Other than the Alpha-Beta fighter combination, the Horizont is weaponless, a liability that caused the loss of many of these vessels over Earth in the attempt to liberate the home world from the Invid occupation. To remedy this, the RNF decided after the Third Robotech War to introduce a troop ship design similar to that used by the Robotech Masters in conjunction with a more heavily armored and newly armed Horizont refit.
| 1 | VAF-6 Alpha Veritech Fighter |
| 1 | VBF-1 Beta Veritech Fighter |
| * | Destroying the main engines will severely impair the ship. If the main engines are put out of commission, the ship will be floating dead in space or will crash if the damage occurs in atmosphere. If the engine systems are shut down, all other systems will continue to function. |
| ** | Depleting the M.D.C. of the main body will shut down the entire ship, including life support, gravity control, communications, weapons, and engines. |