AV-22 Sparrowhawk

Sparrowhawk

"Known more readily as just “Hawk”, the Sparrowhawk is a formidable air to ground armor busting support aerodynamic. The Hawk is still being assessed by command before full production starts while engineers are still working on an experimental propulsion system that has led to failures in the field making the future of this vehicle uncertain. The Hawk first saw actual combat against the Covenant on the surface of Harvest in the final months of that campaign."

- Quote

The Hawk is a United Nations Space Command VTOL aerial support aerodyne that appears in Halo Wars.

History
The Hawk is a formidable air-to-ground anti-tank aerodyne. It is used by the UNSC in a support and anti-armor role to hunt tanks and support advances. Developed during the early years of the Human-Covenant War, it first saw action on Harvest during the end months of the Second Battle of Harvest. Problems with its ducted fan propulsion system made its adoption status uncertain, though it was used during at least 2531.

Appearance
The Hawk has design elements from a mixture of modern VTOL aircraft, most prominently the Harrier Jump-Jet, and attack helicopter gunships such as the AH-64 Apache and the AH-1 Cobra. It also bears a marked resemblance to the Hornet gunship in Halo 3 and bears similarities to the deleted Kestrel from other versions. It consists of an elongated fuselage with stubby wings on each side of it.

The cockpit is forward mounted, and the tail section juts out from behind the fuselage at a downward angle. Each wing incorporates a Ducted Air Fan for lift and thrust, and carries three missiles/rockets on pylons on each wing. Each wing also carries a twin auto-cannon, with a dual auto-cannon mounted underneath the cockpit.

Performance


The Hawk is a fast and maneuverable aircraft, much more so than the AV-14 Attack VTOL that it replaces. It uses ducted fans in the wings for propulsion rather than tilting jet thrusters, and is equipped with wing-mounted GUA-23/AW/Linkless Feed Autocannons and a nose-mounted M6 Laser which takes up the length of the entire aircraft excluding the tailpiece, excelling at anti-vehicle operations but more than capable of engaging most types of units easily. The Hawk is the unique unit of Professor Ellen Anders.

Trivia

 * The original announcement of the Hawk as well as the unveiling of the first concept art for the design was accomplished through a "decrypting" image set. Community Manager Graham Somers posted the first full-static image at the end of an update. Over time the image cleared itself up. The following update contained larger versions of the Hawk and a short description.
 * The Hawk strongly resembles an early concept of the Hornet.
 * The Hawk has a resemblance to the Orca Gunships of the Command and Conquer series.
 * The Hawk is an aircraft unit that appears when Anders is the Leader in Skirmish mode, and the 12th mission of the Campaign.
 * CMT on Halo Custom Edition has made a Sparrowhawk for their modded campaign.
 * There will be a MegaBlocks toy set featuring the Hawk.
 * The vehicle has changed greatly from its original concept, with it being changed from a gunship with missiles and a range of cannons, akin to modern gunships, to a more aerodynamic vehicle with a nose mounted laser, and 2 autocannons.