The Courier is very pleasing to the eye. However, it wasn't its
aesthetics that put it in AJN service, rather its capabilities. With only
a crew of three, this large ship is impressively simple to operate and gives
performance that was unmatched until the Quest was put into full production.
The versitility of this vessel until now has been unparalleled. However, the
Quest has squeezed out some models of the Courier - all E.1 and KC.2 variants
were demilitarized and sold off to civilians over 10 years ago.
The Alliance ran into problems procuring Couriers directly from
Imperial shipyards - the Empire felt that the Alliance was not necessarily
a friendly force. Like with the Explorer, from that point the AJN's needs
were fulfilled by purchasing civilian models on the open market, something
the Empire could do little about (short of starting a full scale war, which
fortunately they were not prepared to do on a matter this minor).
The current variants are:
- T.4 - Multi-capability trainer
- C.4 - Cargo and troop deployment
- FGA.2 - Heavy multirole combat variant
- B.3 - Light bomber
All models were refitted with "Quest" technology hyperdrives and prime-movers.
The fact that a transport, multirole combat and bomber version exist in
the AJN's inventory is a tribute to the versatility of this design. The T.4
version is designed so that the configuration for training can be changed
to make it a trainer for the FGA.2 or the B.3 models.