AV-22 Sparrowhawk

Sparrowhawk The Sparrowhawk is a United Nations Space Command atmospheric vehicle. It is planned to appear in Halo Wars.

History
The Sparrowhawk is a formidable air-to-ground anti-tank aerodynamic vehicle. It was used by the UNSC in a support role to hunt tanks and support advances.

Appearance


The Sparrowhawk 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 speculated to be most likely the predecessor of the deleted Kestrel from other versions. Similarities can be drawn between the Sparrowhawk in Halo Wars and the ORCA and VENOM Gunships from RTS series Command and Conquer. 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 autocannon mounted underneath the cockpit.

Performance
It is currently unknown, as to how the Sparrowhawk performs. Released footage shows it to be at least as fast and agile as a Pelican Dropship, though it never uses its weaponry. It's described as being designed for engaging enemy ground armor, so its air-to-air capabilities remain unknown, if it even has any. It is likely that it fills a role similar to the modern day A-10 Thunderbolt II Ground Attack Aircraft. It can be seen at the beginning of the Halo Wars E3 demo, flying with a group of Pelicans

The addition of the Hornet to the game, and the introduction of the currently-unseen Vulture gunship, may indicate that the Sparrowhawk has either been cut from the game, or its purpose has been retooled.

Trivia

 * Although a removal has not been confirmed, the Sparrowhawk doesn't appear in the most recent builds of the game, in favor of the Vulture gunship.
 * The original announcement of the Sparrowhawk as well as the unveiling of the first concept art for the design was accomplished through a "decrypting" image set. Community Manage 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 Sparrowhawk and a short description. Many community members considered this a waste of a monthly update.
 * The Sparrowhawk has a resemblance to the Orca Gunships of the Command and Conquer series.