Zmeya-class transport ship (FT)

The Zmeya-class transport ships are a class of cargo vessels designed and produced in the United People's Republics for both civilian and military use. Exported across the Interstellar Union and beyond, the Zmeya-class are the most numerous type of standardised cargo ship employed within the Interstellar Union. Most of the militaries of Interstellar Union member states have also adopted the Zmeya-class as a military transport ship.

Design
The Zmeya-class are light cargo vessels produced by YYC Space Engineering Corporation (Yevtushenko, Yeryomin, and Cao) at the Udaloy Orbital Shipyards around Kesempatan. They can be configured for either cargo (container) operations or tanker operations as preferred by the end-user. Such modifications can also be made through various end-user modification packages also sold by YYC. Equipped with four powerful MagCoil thrusters, the Zmeya-class is able to maintain a formidable thrust, giving it great speed ideal for interplanetary transportation.

Due to the small size and capacity of the vessels, they are typically used for interplanetary cargo transportation within star systems, though they are also capable of interstellar FTL travel. Smaller shipping lines do use Zmeya-class ships for circuit trade, though this practice is considered not cost effective by larger shipping companies. The vast majority of Zmeya-class vessels are used as interplanetary transports and orbital feeders. Some decommissioned ex-military ships have also been used as interplanetary and interstellar passenger liners by some companies.

Militarised variants
The Zmeya-class has also been widely adopted as a cargo and troop transport by various military forces in the United Front due to its robust and semi-modular design, as well as its low cost and easy availability. Militarised Zmeya-class ships are equipped with armour plating, military-grade electronics packages, and in some cases defensive weapons. The most common defensive weapon configuration is an all-round layout of five 30mm ArbustosMaestro M29 CIWS turrets and eight six-cell missile pods loaded with Shahrak-6 close-in missiles, providing the cargo ships with some measure of defence against incoming missiles or attack craft.

In the Antillian Space Defence Force, a small number of Zmeya-class vessels have been converted into extensive mobile command centres capable of acting as orbital headquarters for ground campaigns.