Ironhawk Close Support Bomber

As with many of the other variants of the Corsair Bomber, the members of the VIth Legion saw the long-range bomber as a blank canvas upon which they could paint their own doctrines. Accordingly, the Ironhawk was born from the rapid assault roots of the Keld'aban's, a screaming shadow that darkened the fate of the enemies of mankind.

## **History**

In the Legion's history before Rang it was of note that they didn't take to the Corsair that well. Legion supplies were initially rejected, and even on the insistence of the Martian suppliers, only took in a third of the allotted shipment. This remained the standard with the Legion only taking in minimal amounts of shipments to replace the ones lost, that is, until Rang was found.

Understanding the shunning of long-range, high-altitude bombing as an unworthy form of combat it made sense then that the VIth would reject the bomber in any way possible. It would then, be included as part of his sweeping changes to the legion, that he would set consult with the Martian representatives on what to do.

Though the result of that conversation would take many years to come to fruition -even longer than his Legion's reformation- the Ironhawk would prove itself as the adaptation necessary to enhance their Kelda'aban warrior code. As part of it's debut the fortress-rafts of 2431, locally known as 'Buridunas' would soon shudder under their shadow.

Screaming down from the sky a simultaneous barrage of bombs, missiles and munitions would rain down on the battlements of the floating castles, cratering holes and sinking whole segments of the city in a fiery opening move. Immediately following such a tremendous cascade the sky above the raft-cities grew dark and the atmosphere wavered under the cry of the following blow. Ironhawks descended upon the city, breaking at the last second as the screaming horns of their triumph sounded. Now only a few dozen metres from the ground belly turrets opened fire, volkite blasts rippling over buildings, and towers alike, cooking dozens alive in the opening moments. The withering hail of fire however was merely a cover, as the belly of each Ironhawk yawed open and dozens of power-armoured visors glared at the city below. Jumping out of the passenger bay, an entire chapter of the Shadow Warriors blasted their way into the fortress's interior, jump packs blazing as they deftly moved from building to building, hunting down the inhabitants with extreme contempt.

After the felling of the great raft-fortresses, the Ironhawk was become officially adopted by the VIth. It had taken the significant prowess of Rang to show his sons that any form of warfare was viable, and couple be adapted to the Relso'nare.

## **Design**

Given the talk between Rang and the Mechanicus adepts within his fleet, it is of no surprise that the resulting changes to the Corsair's chassis would be significant. While retaining some of the functionality of the original design the Ironhawk has been adapted, simplifying it in certain areas while others have been enhanced through the wonders of the Great Crusade.

The Ironhawk has had several major changes from the Corsair, the first and most major of which, is the bomb bay. Instead of the pair of bomb bays in the aircraft's belly, a single bay of the same size has been placed down the centreline of the aircraft. This central bay houses the main payload in the form of several dozen arming cages able to fit over half a company's worth of assault marines within. From here the marines will ride the Ironhawk in it's predatory descent onto a target before deploying onto the battlefield in a swarm of furious retribution. The arming cages themselves are individually fitted with several servitor-linked servo-arms to outfit the marines appropriately and help replace damaged armour sections once the marines return to their mother-craft.

The main purpose of the aircraft is still retained despite it's drastic alteration. On either side of the central troop bay like 2 smaller bomb bays, both roughly half the size of the originals found on the Corsair. In conjunction with 2 heavy wing-mounted pylons the Ironhawk manages to maintain the overall bombing capacity of it's forbear split over these 2 separate mounting points. Using this formidable destructive capacity the Ironhawk launches a host of munitions upon a target below before immediately going into a nose-dive to chase said munitions to the target. This hyper-aggressive method of combat-insertion lets the munitions act as a screen for the aircraft as they dive, distracting any enemy augurs with the sheer number and variety of munitions as they fall.

### **Armaments**

* 2 half-sized internal bays in the belly of the craft allowing for ordnance up to maximum limit of 17,000kg's (37,500lbs) each
* 2 heavy wing-mounted pylons allowing for ordnance up to maximum limit of 17,000kg's (37,500lbs) each in various configurations detailed below:
	+ 1x Anti-ship Torpedo
	+ 5x (750kg/1650lb) Apocalypse Missiles mounted in rotary launcher assembly.
	+ 9x (450kg/1000lb) Large Guided Plasma/Melta Bombs mounted on large bomb rack assembly.
	+ 36x (112kg/250lb) High Explosive/Incendiary Bombs mounted on a bomb rack assembly.

### **Defensive Systems**

It must be said that despite the novelty of the Shadow Warriors new mission parameters for the bomber, it was one of the only designs to specialise itself in such a way that it left a glaring gap in it's defences as a result. Thanks to the nature of it's new attack patterns, the defensive weapon turrets have been reconfigured. Where as before, the distribution of the weapons was moulded to provide maximum coverage, the Ironhawk has forgone this all together by housing all of their emplacements on the underside of the craft.

To support the assaulting troops in a role more suited to close-air-support aircraft the bomber's now glaring lack of anti-air capability has resulted in the VIth Legion providing mandatory fighter escorts to guarantee their safety in the skies. Though this speaks to the inter-operability of the various branches and their methods of warfare, it does mean that mobilising, maintenance and coordination have all become points of issue. Thanks to this dependency less Ironhawks can be deployed reliably, in some cases this barrier having given an enemy enough time to mobilise fully and make the task of compliance all the harder as a result.

For all the complaints of the design in the air however, as a close air support asset, the Ironhawk is exceptional. The wingtip turrets have had their autocannons swapped out for the bulkier muzzles of volkite sakers. Lancing out with deadly beams of energy, the sakers are particularly adept at destroying enemy infantry in droves, especially those caught off-guard by the sudden appearance of the bomber above their heads. To compliment the anti-infantry power of the volkite saker weapons, the chin and tail turrets have an adapted version of the avenger bolt cannon. As large and heavy weapons in of themselves , the avenger bolt cannons have been built into specially-mounted turrets allowing a vast range of movement with the bulk of the weapon within the turret itself. This method of mounting the weapon Allows the internal storage for the ammunition to be larger by comparison to the previously installed long-barrelled autocannons which is wholly necessary considering it's voracious rate of fire. While the cannons can be used in a limited anti-air capacity it can only engage at relatively short ranges, leaving it far better suited towards ground-support.

As with all aircraft, the use of flares and chaff is paramount to survive in the skies, but this turns out to be doubly-necessary for the Ironhawk considering it's aggressive use as close air support. Standard within all Corsair bombers and their Legionary variants each of the defensive turrets have an autoloading chaff launcher but it is on the belly of the Ironhawk where most of the countermeasures can be found. Protecting the troop bay is a unique array, lowering itself down from the roof a powerful augur-detection sensor pod constantly sweeps the surrounding area on the underside of the craft for threats. This aggressive machine-spirit is guided by the hand of the Defensive Systems Operator and linked to 3 separate munition-launching drums that can fire from both the underside and topside if necessary. Loaded with all manner of logis-engine-defying beacons, harno glitter-tape and and augur frequency jammers that can quickly and effectively counter any ground-based guided munitions fire.

These munitions would normally be reserved for their usual roles of distracting air-to-air and SAM missiles, but have been adapted to help in the new primary mission of the Ironhawk. Once in place above a city the aircraft releases a vast swathe of these countermeasure munitions, laying down a blanket over the city. Mixed in with the chaff is also a host of grenades, usually picked out depending on the mission, from frag, smoke, gas and even razorwire types synonymous with their use in the XVIth Legion. This stream of cover acts as both a defensive measure, making it harder to fire guided weapons and as a distraction from the hoards of Shadow Warriors deploying from the craft's belly.

### **Miscellaneous**

In support of all these new functions and strategies a major refit has taken place, one may not be noticeable at first glance. Despite the loss of a bomb bay the Ironhawk is still heavier than it's original counterpart. This is in part due to the installation of anti-gravity plates. Mounted onto the skeletal structure of the craft itself, arrays of large anti-gravity plates -some as wide and long as a Nemean – poke through it's hull. Normally such a large craft wouldn't need to benefit from such technology, instead relying on plasma thrust to keep themselves in the air, but the Ironhawk is different in this regard.

Thanks to the newly established tactic of using the bomber as a troop transport and ground support platform, a challenge arose; How would marines disembark if the aircraft they were being transported in, was travelling faster than the speed of sound? To jump from such a position would see them wildly scattered at best, and left in uncontrollable free-fall at worst. The bomber itself could slow down to drop them off, but only so much so considering the weight and thrust needed to keep it in the air. The idea born of these two problems then, was chose anti-gravity as the solution. The massive plates would allow the craft to not only slow down, but almost hover thanks to the gravitic forces exerted and with the engine powered down to minimum thrust. This would allow them to not only drop off the marines, but subsequently support them with their weapons, even remaining on station above a city for hours if need be. Activated as the bomber almost impacts the ground in it's nose-dive, they press with immense force, slowing the fall significantly, sometimes at the cost of local architecture.

A final note on the Ironhawk doesn't actually pertain to any sort of technological marvel at it's disposal, but rather, a legion tradition. While the Ironhawk is busy plunging onto battlefields all across the galaxy, Keld'aban culture has followed suit with great presence.

On Keld'abe the various nomadic Aliite tribes would make frequent use of cavalry thanks in part to their abundance of lizard-like local fauna. These cavalry would mount a wind-powered machine called a 'Ne'tra Prudii' or 'Black Shadow' in Gothic. When sped up, this machine would create a great bass note, helping herd their livestock with short bursts of it's sound. It's second and most prominent feature however, was during battle. When faced with the psyker-covens and warp-tainted beasts of the plains a hoard of cavalrymen would be equipped with such devices, charging en-mass, they would create a thunderous, noise that would shake the ground with it's intensity stunning or even scaring off many an enemy before they had even charged their ranks.

It is this crossroads of psychological warfare and tradition that found it's way into the Shadow Warriors. Taken up by the various crews as a labour of love, they would collectively help to design and forge a special horn individual to each bomber. When diving as part of their new doctrine, the horns suck in great gouts of wind and produce vast bass howling noises akin to a giant roaring in anger. Having been used many times the accompaniment of a great howling noise, pre-launched bombs and the sight of a mighty bomber diving straight at an enemy has, in the same manner as their ancestors, scared many an enemy into inaction or even outright surrender. This embodiment of shock tactics is one of the reasons that the machines are so revered, with many of them considered masterworks of forging in their own right, much are akin to those mascots and lucky charms held in reverence amongst the mortal regiments as a symbol of tradition and honour.

## **Notable Deliverance Bombers**

***Sire-Breaker*** - 9th Company, 7th Chapter

***Dekuge***- 23rd Company, 12th Chapter

***Forrik's Talon*** - 37th Company, 2nd Chapter

***Thunderer*** - 43rd Company, 9th Chapter