The Emperor’s Angel of Death

Sojyan's years of combat experience had given him a deeper understanding of war, especially in large-scale ground operations. He had come to realize that securing air superiority was far more important than any tactical maneuver.

Only with air superiority could they keep a close watch on the enemy's scale and routes.

Only with air superiority could they maximize the suppression and delay of enemy support forces.

Only with air superiority could they strike enemy transportation lines and hidden facilities with greater precision.

The battleships in orbit might be powerful, but they were also subject to various limitations, and they couldn't provide sufficient support to the ground during the stage of contesting void supremacy. At this time, they relied heavily on ground-based aviation power.

This was why Sojyan had Ulan Huda shift the equipment focus towards flying vehicles. During the battle on Paleshang, the Dark Angels' powerful flying squadrons had left a deep impression on him, inspiring him to create a powerful air force capable of overwhelming most opponents.

"Chapter Master, to date, we have produced 250 Stormhawk Interceptors, but due to the Great Maelstrom Crusade, they can only remain in the warehouse."

As the illumination spheres in the massive metal warehouse lit up one after another, the thick canvas was slowly pulled up by hooks, and a dense, orderly formation of silver-gray warhawks appeared in Sojyan's sight.

Their appearance was slightly smaller than the Stormraven, with huge forked tail fins. The slender fuselage had two short, sturdy wings on each side, each bearing a massive engine. The wingtips each had two linked assault cannons, and each wing-fuselage joint had a missile launcher. The cockpit was completely covered by heavy armor plates, with only a thin row of electronic equipment, inscribed with the crossed swords of the Astral Knights. Below the cockpit was a main cannon, and on each side of the nose were two small short wings, each with two plasma-like weapons at their junction with the fuselage.

"This batch of Stormhawks is largely built according to the original blueprint. Depending on the combat objectives, the main weapon on the nose can also be replaced with different types, such as the Las Talon for anti-armor combat, which can fire two bursts of las fire in quick succession, ensuring a clean and efficient kill of armored targets, or the Storm Cannon for dealing with a large number of light ground targets."

Sojyan took a few steps forward, observing the air superiority fighter up close. The reason he chose the Stormhawk over the Stormraven was its specialization. The Stormraven placed too much emphasis on multi-functionality, and after taking on a certain amount of transport capability, the Stormraven's weapons and flexibility made it difficult to truly undertake the task of air superiority.

The Stormhawk, on the other hand, was a true aerial predator, capable of hunting enemies in the air high in the clouds with its heavy armor and superior maneuverability, clearing the skies, and also capable of using berserk firepower to annihilate enemies, unleashing incredible firepower on high-value targets, such as destroying entire armored columns, or blasting enemy fortifications into smithereens, leaving only rolling flames and ashes.

Bangula then gently touched the weapon at the junction of the Stormhawk's nose and the right short wing with a tentacle.

"To increase its ground attack capabilities, we have also integrated the Tempest plasma gun into the fuselage, allowing it to effectively kill dense ground targets. At the same time, we have adjusted the wing length and added a hardpoint so that it can carry two more Hunter-Killer missiles or four Hellfury missiles when necessary."

Hunter-Killer missiles were, of course, the first choice for attacking large targets, but the Hellfury missiles surprised him a bit, because there were not many forge worlds that could produce this missile, and he only saw it for the first time during the Great Maelstrom Crusade.

This missile was a very rare air-to-ground large-area killing weapon. Each Hellfury missile was an independent ammunition depot. The warhead was installed on a single-stage booster and equipped with guidance devices and detonation auguries, capable of striking at extremely long ranges. Its warhead, which accounted for one-third of the missile's length, was fitted with coaxial ammunition racks of small high-explosive bombs, each soaked in the sacred oil of the Mechanicum.

When launched, the Hellfury missile would follow the guided route through the battlefield, landing on its target like an avenging angel. The deafening roar it emitted as it approached its target would cause enemies to retreat in fear, or scream and run, hopelessly trying to protect themselves. When it reached directly above the target area, the blessed warhead would automatically disintegrate, releasing its payload of small bombs, covering a wide area.

Light armor would be overturned by the shockwave, or completely pulverized by the power of multiple explosions. Infantry would either be directly vaporized or thrown into the air, and charred corpses would roll in the rocket impact zone like ashes from the fires of hell. Each warhead would produce a thunderous carpet of explosions, leaving behind only angry fragments in its wake.

"Yes, this kind of multi-purpose fighter with strong air superiority and ground capabilities is exactly what I expected. Good, very good."

Sojyan looked around, and the Space Marines following him were also curiously looking at this powerful aerial predator, and judging them by the standards of a warrior and a soldier.

In the end, everyone gave positive reviews.

Coming to the rear of the Stormhawk, Sojyan noticed that there seemed to be a missile launcher-like device on top of the fighter, but it was facing backwards.

"Director Bangula, what is that? Is it a missile? Why is it shooting backwards?"

Bangula immediately explained:

"Chapter Master, that is a Halo Launcher, an active defense system. Generally speaking, enemy air attacks will mostly come from the rear, including many missiles that track heat sources and will most likely aim at the tail of the fighter. When locked on, the Halo Launcher will launch Halo Chaffs, which will form a golden halo that can interfere with and confuse the enemy's aiming equipment and the missile's logic system."

"I see, pardon my ignorance, as an Astartes, I didn't even know about this Imperial weapon."

"It's not surprising. The Imperium has a wide variety of weapons, strange and bizarre. Many pieces of equipment are limited to a single model and are very few in number. It is normal even if the Astartes do not understand them. In addition, this model is not just externally equipped with some changes. The biggest difference from the prototype is actually inside."

As he spoke, he pointed to the slight protrusions on both sides of the tail.

"Originally, the Stormhawk's detection equipment was mainly aimed at the air, and its scanning ability for ground targets was relatively poor, so we improved it and replaced it with the 'Web' radar, which can quickly cover a large area within a long-range range, has fine resolution capabilities for target detection, to simultaneously determine, distinguish, and display up to 400 targets, and combines the intelligent auxiliary combat system we have researched. This system can assist the pilot in forming combat plans, attack routes, and highlighting high-threat targets, and can also transmit information on the remaining targets to the surrounding Stormtalons, forming a shared target information network. This is similar to the Collegia Titanica's collective information chain technology."