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 air vehicle. The Sparrowhawk first saw actual combat against the Covenant on the surface of Harvest in the final months of the battle.

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 AH64 Apache, and the AH-1 Cobra. It also bears a marked resemblance to the Hornet gunship in Halo 3, as well as the deleted Kestrel from other versions. Similarities can be drawn between the Sparrowhawk in Halo Wars and the ORCA Gunship from rival RTS Command and Conquer 3. 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 autocannon, with a dual machine cannon mounted underneath the cockpit.

Performance
It is currently not known 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 is 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 is unknown whether production of the Sparrowhawk will continue, as the propulsion system it uses is experimental, and has failed during field use.