The largest military DropShip in common service, the Excalibur can transport a complete combined-arms regiment, comprising a full infantry battalion, two tank battalions, and a BattleMech company.
         The first Excaliburs entered service in 2786, shortly after the start of the First Succession War. These massive craft made use of the huge GM 48000 drive system, which provides the vessel with a respectable 1.5 Gs of acceleration. However, the last manufacturer able to produce these drives closed in 3022, and for a while the craft looked doomed. Eventually House Kurita, a major user of the Excalibur, commissioned an engineering team to research an alternative propulsion system. The team proposed a modified version of the smaller GE 2080 drive system used in the Mule Class DropShip for the Excalibur. This innovation proved successful, and most Excaliburs produced since the 3030’s use this drive system.
         Five huge bays make up the majority of the craft’s interior. Four of these are fitted as vehicle bays, and the fifth can accommodate a company of ’Mechs. However, the ’Mech bay does not contain any repair facilities or ’Mech-drop capability. Most of the Excalibur's remaining space contains six troop decks, which include quarters for vehicle crews, MechWarriors, technical personnel, and an entire infantry battalion. Each infantry deck contains barracks, mess and recreation rooms for each platoon and training and medical facilities for each infantry company.
         The quarters for the Excalibur's 50 crew members are located above the troop decks. These quarters comprise 21 double-occupancy rooms, and eight single-occupancy suites for the captain and senior officers. The central portion of the deck houses mess hall and recreation facilities, with a trio of elevators for access to other decks. An isolated, security code-equipped elevator provides access to the command deck.
         The Excalibur is poorly armed for its size and usually requires a fighter escort to ensure its safety on combat missions. Usually a wave of DropShips and fighters neutralize any potential threats before an Excalibur enters a combat area. Off-loading infantry and armor from a grounded Excalibur can take up to three hours, leaving the craft extremely vulnerable. As a result, Excaliburs generally provide support for siege operations or are used in the consolidation phase of a planetary assault.
         Semier Data Tron of Tharkad improved the firepower of their Excaliburs in the 3050s by replacing the conventional weapons systems with high-tech equivalents. The most common configuration adds an Artemis IV fire-control system to each of the five LRM systems, replaces the medium lasers with pulsed equivalents, and replaces the PPCs and large lasers with extended-range versions of these weapons. The net result of this is a slight improvement in the Excalibur’s firepower and range, but at the expense of increased heat output. Perversely, the design has resulted in a slight reduction of the craft’s ability to vent excess heat as well, although the new system is more than adequate for the vessel’s needs. After the Jihad, when many Capellan Excaliburs were lost in situations that the Tharkad model survived, Rashpur-Owens Incorporated of Capella upgraded their production yards to install the same weapons as the Tharkad model.