Valkyrie

The **Valkyrie** is a Vertical Takeoff and Landing (VTOL) airborne assault carrier used primarily by the Astra Militarum as both a ground support gunship and a transport for airborne combat regiments like Tempestus Scion Squads and the Elysian Drop Troops. Despite serving the tactical needs of the Imperial Guard, a Valkyrie and its crew are usually composed of pilots and armsmen drawn from the Imperial Navy's Aeronautica Imperialis and are provided to the Guard on an as-needed basis.

## Overview

The Valkyrie assault carrier is a manoeuvrable, well-armed, twin-engine Attack Craft. The durable armour and versatile payload of the Valkyrie chassis combined with the aircraft's powerful engines and stable handling make it a popular choice for a broad spectrum of battlefield roles. These Attack Craft use atmospherically-sealed cockpits and omni-combustable Promethium in their vector-turbojets, allowing them to be deployed against enemy flyers in the upper atmosphere and against ground forces on even the most hostile worlds.

Sporting a troop transport capacity on par with the ubiquitous Chimera, the Valkyrie is often used to swiftly redeploy squads of infantry. Strikes at key targets by cadres of Tempestus Scions, reinforcement of buckling battle lines by grim-faced bands of Veterans, even hasty transportation for ranking officers -- all of these and more are the duty of the Valkyrie.

With a few notable exceptions, most Astra Militarum formations will have small numbers of Valkyries attached to them on a temporary basis; such aircraft are, first and foremost, the property of the Aeronautica Imperialis. During extended ground operations, however, they are usually repainted to match their assigned regiment, and their pilots report directly to that regiment's senior officer regardless of the difference in service.

With vectored engines permitting vertical take-off and landing, these versatile aircraft can twist and turn through the rigours of low-altitude dogfights, or hover while troops rappel from their holds. In addition, every Valkyrie is equipped with sufficient Grav-Chutes for all passengers, allowing expedient, if hazardous, high-speed deployment into the thick of combat.

To burst from the steel cocoon of a Valkyrie's transport bay into the icy air above packed ranks of enemies can be jarring, even by the standards of the Astra Militarum. As the chuted infantry descend towards the seething mass of foes they are peppered with fire. Those grav-troopers who manage to touch down may find themselves within feeding range of some mutated xenos monstrosity, or set alight by gouts of daemonic flame. But for all this, the shock of a Valkyrie drop is even more terrifying to the enemy, who find themselves fighting on new and unexpected fronts with no warning, other than the roar of an overflying Valkyrie. Carefully orchestrated offensives are thrown into utter disarray as Lasgun-wielding infantry are disgorged to assail the flanks and rear of the assaulting army. Artillery and psykers unleashing their destruction far from the front lines are surrounded and brought down by the massed fire of the descending troopers.

Valkyries have a storied history of service alongside Imperial infantry and armour regiments, and are sometimes referred to by Imperial Guardsmen as the "Wings of the Emperor." Certainly those Guardsmen who have seen a ravening Carnifex blasted apart from on high by a Valkyrie's Hellstrike Missiles, or been lifted from the path of an onrushing Ork horde in the tight confines of the transport bay, have nothing but respect for these exceptional aircraft.