Flying saucer

Flying saucers are a form of disc-shaped spacecraft which have been used by many species throughout the Universe for many millennia. The term "flying saucer" was also often used as a joking synonym for alien spacecraft by Humans, like "Martian" for any kind of alien.

Dalek flying saucers
One of the most commonly used type of Dalek ship was their flying saucer, of which the fleet of the Dalek Empire during the Time War was composed of about ten million, including the Dalek Emperor's flagship.

The normal saucers contained about two thousand Daleks each and were small and bronze-coloured, the same colour as the drone Daleks of that time. The flagship was the same colour but much larger and containing both standard Daleks and Emperor's Personal Guards. It could also fire projectile weaponry.

At the end of the Time War, the Doctor caused all of the fleet to burn away except one, the flagship, which fell through time to the 200th century, and rebuilt 200 ships of his fleet and half a million of his Daleks. (DW: Bad Wolf / The Parting of the Ways)

The pre-Time War Daleks also used saucers when invading planets, such as during the 22nd century Dalek invasion of Earth. (DW: The Dalek Invasion of Earth)

Dominator flying saucers
Flying saucers were also used by the Dominators in their fleet. They were powered by negative mass flux absorption, where their ships could absorb radiation and convert it into propulsion. (DW: The Dominators)

Cyberman flying saucers
The Cybermen used a saucer-shaped landing craft to land on the Moon in 2070. (DW: The Moonbase)

Adiposian Nursery Ships

 * main article: Nursery Ship

The Adipose used Nursery Ships to carry young Adipose from the planet on which they were seeded to the Adipose homeworld. They were large enough to carry several million Adipose and were equipped with levitation beams to transport the Adipose safely from the planet's surface into the craft. (DW: Partners in Crime)

Jathaa Sungliders
The Jathaa had Sungliders - large, black, saucer-shaped craft which moved via a smaller rotating platform of some sort underneath. (DW: Army of Ghosts, TW: End of Days). When the Cardiff rift fractured, mixing space and time periods, Jathaa ships appeared and hovered over the Taj Mahal. (TW: End of Days) The Sunglider uses a powerful weapons system, which utilises five energy beams that converge into one powerful beam which can destroy at least an asteroid - and indeed distintegrated a Sycorax asteroid ship into ash. (DW: The Christmas Invasion)

Behind the Scenes
Flying saucers are the stereotypical alien spaceship in the real world, being first reported in June 1947 (and having a history of similar forms recorded in tapestries and paintings) and appearing in science fiction and alleged real world sightings since.

The Jathaa Sunglider's weapons system is similar to the Death Star's superlaser from Star Wars, which disintegrated the planet Alderaan into ash and meteors.