Heavy Raider

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This article is about the Re-imagined Series heavy raider. For other versions, see Cylon Raider.

Heavy Raider

Race	Cylon
Type	Military
FTL	Yes
Propulsion
Crew	Holds approximately 10 Centurions
Capacity
CO	{{{co}}}
XO	{{{xo}}}
Role	Troop transport
Weapons	A 6-barrel Kinetic Energy Weapon and at least one missile launcher
Armaments	{{{arm}}}
Status	{{{status}}}
Other Images	More images...
Dimensions
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Height	{{{height}}}
Weight	{{{weight}}}
Wingspan	{{{wingspan}}}
Other	{{{otherdi}}}

A Heavy Raider is a Cylon duel purpose attack and transport spacecraft, nicknamed "turkey" by the Fleet's military units (Maelstrom).

The main armament of the Heavy Raider seems to consist of a barbette of six cannons mounted under the cockpit area of the vehicle (as seen here). These cannons are capable of an extremely high rate of fire (Scattered). The Raiders are also capable of launching missiles.

Not much is yet known about this craft. The Heavy Raider is likely autonomous, as evidenced by the Raider-style head/canopy. While Centurions have been seen exiting Heavy Raiders, there is no proof that they pilot it.

The first Heavy Raider is seen as part of a Cylon search party looking for Karl "Helo" Agathon and Sharon Agathon née Valerii on Cylon-occupied Caprica (Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down). Further sightings in Season 1 are in "Colonial Day" with one craft landing near Agathon and Valerii, and in space over Caprica in "Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part II".

Significant appearances

A Heavy Raider with a boarding party of five Centurions crash-lands into Galactica's unused starboard flight pod (Scattered).

Heavy Raider on Kobol

After shooting down a Colonial scouting party over Kobol, a force of five Centurions lands near the crash site of Raptor 1 in a Heavy Raider. They proceed to dismantle its missile launcher and DRADIS assembly in an attempt to build a surface-to-air missile battery, intending to shoot down any search and rescue parties that Galactica sends to find the survivors (Fragged).

The Heavy Raider is conclusively proven to be a troop transport in "The Farm" when Sharon Agathon née Valerii commandeers one and uses it to evacuate the Caprica Resistance after they rescue Kara Thrace from a Cylon hybrid "farm." That captured Heavy Raider is eventually used to jump to Kobol where Thrace, Agathon and Valerii finally hook up with the rest of the Fleet.

The Cylon attack fleet in "Flight of the Phoenix" includes a large amount of Heavy Raiders, which could indicate a planned boarding operation or merely the need for additional heavy firepower.

Months later, Felix Gaeta reveals that with Valerii's cooperation they are able to interface the navigational system of a captured Heavy Raider with a Raptor's FTL drive, making it capable of farther and more accurate jumps than before (beyond Colonial FTL's Red Line limit) with significantly faster calculations (as previously determined from a captured Cylon Raider). A strike team is able to return to Caprica in less than ten jumps and successfully rescues the Caprica Resistance (Lay Down Your Burdens, Part I).

On New Caprica, Galen Tyrol and Samuel Anders manage to blow up a landing pad after a Heavy Raider carrying various humanoid Cylons lands (Occupation).

After New Caprica, Thrace believes she sees a Heavy Raider in the atmosphere of a nearby gas giant, although no one else can see it. Its appearance may somehow relate to her alleged destiny (Maelstrom).

More than two months after her miraculous return at the Ionian nebula and in the last days of her command of the Demetrius, Thrace and Brendan "Hot Dog" Costanza intercept a heavily-damaged Heavy Raider with a Number Two onboard, the same Leoben Conoy who imprisoned her on New Caprica (The Road Less Traveled).

Notes

According to Eric Chu, Richard Livingston designed the Heavy Raider. ^[1]
As of "Razor" and new retconned exterior design for the Heavy Raider is in use. It is virtually identical to the previous incarnation save for a new head canopy—which matches that of the retconned standard Raider—and the addition of missile launcher (capable of propelling two missiles) superior to the forward battery.