AV-22 Sparrowhawk

"Known more readily as just “Hawk” the Sparrowhawk is a formidable air to ground armor busting support aerodyne. 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 Sparrowhawk The Sparrowhawk is a United Nations Space Command VTOL aerial support aerodyne that will appear in the upcoming Halo Wars.

History
The Sparrowhawk 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.

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 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 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 AH-64 Apache heilicopter gunship, providing heavy air support. It can be seen at the beginning of the Halo Wars 2007 E3 demo escorting a Pelican. It can be speculated that it mounts a gauss cannon because it emits a beam similar to that of a gauss cannon on a warthog from a recent screen shot.

The addition of the Hornet to the game, and the introduction of the Vulture gunship, was thought to indicate that the Sparrowhawk had either been cut from the game, or its purpose has been retooled. Recent screenshots, however, revealed that the Sparrowhawk is still a playable unit.

Trivia

 * 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.


 * The Sparrowhawk has a resemblance to the Orca Gunships of the Command and Conquer series.


 * It has been confirmed that the Sparrowhawk is an upgrade to the Hornet in Halo Wars.