Netrods must drop as a trooper as otherwise the combat jump rules will not function (so are effected by confused deployment). After they land on the table they are equipment and so are immune to the damage rolls each round.
I am under the belief that it does not need the drop zone. The reason for that is i play it where it is treated as a trooper for combat jump purposes throughout. They cannot land (without dispersing) in exclusion zones. They suffer dispersion as a trooper (such as what happens if they cannot land at the point of the table). And so on. Effectively until it finishes on the table (or dies from missing the table) it's a trooper. This way handles most oddities in the game easily.
Ill need to find the clarification, but no, they still need to use the template as nothing in the rules magically changes them to a trooper, they are just equipment that can ignore the trooper requirement for abilities.
Netrods ignore deployment restrictions due to not being a tropper. So you can drop them in the middle of the table. They are also equipment, and equipment isn't affected by the biotech zone.
