Orbital Assault Carriers are small single-operator fighter ships used to give the Decepticons' protoforms air superiority on Cybertron, Earth, or whatever luckless planet is in their path. They are highly flexible craft, capable of operating at high altitude or only a few feet off the ground, hovering or at high speed. These dizzying craft are constantly twisting and reconfiguring themselves during the course of a battle to achieve the optimal mode for a particular task. Their forms include:
- A flattened and streamlined pursuit mode
- A hovering attack mode, with the two large central guns paired up for forward-directed fire
- A cruising attack mode, with the two large central guns splayed out for side-directed fire
They come equipped with standard laser blasters and lethal-to-humans disintegrator rays.
They get stolen. A lot.
Lockdown possessed several modified OACs in his vessel, one of which was stolen by Crosshairs when the Autobots snuck aboard to rescue Optimus. Crosshairs flew out to save Bumblebee, Cade and Tessa Yeager, and Shane Dyson. The small party was pursued by Shadow Raiders piloting more Orbitl Assault Carriers through the skies of Chicago, until Crosshairs instructed Cade and Shane how to operate their OAC's weaponry as he parachuted into the fray personally, taking out some of their assailants. Once Cade and Shane took out some more of their pursuers, Bumblebee flew it into an underground tunnel, where he lost control of the craft as it crashed through to the streets above. The three humans and Bumblebee proceeded to abandon the wrecked ship.
A few more modified OACs harried Optimus and the Dinobots while Lockdown utilized his ship's magnet to capture them. Slug managed to take one out simply by ramming it with his head when it came too close to the ground.