Hammerhead

The Hammerhead gunship is the anti-gravitic main battle tank of the Tau Empire. It was first encountered by the Imperium during the Damocles Gulf Crusade and has been used in almost all campaigns against the enemies of the Tau Empire since. The overall design of the Hammerhead is based off the chassis for the Devilfish APC. Most of the space within the tank is taken up by capacitors for its weapon systems, additional ammunition, and non-combat systems such as climate control and communications. As such, it cannot carry troops. The Hammerhead does have three crew members, which include the pilot, the secondary pilot who controls the many sensors, communications and navigational secondary systems, and the commander who controls the main turreted gun system. Override systems are also in place inside the Hammerhead to allow any crew member to take over another's role in case of casualties.The Hammerhead gunship's primary sensors are located in an array under the tank's forward housing in the vehicle's nose. The drive system of the Hammerhead works by generating an anti-gravitic cushion to float on, while two powerful multi-directional jet engines mounted on the tank's sides propel it forwards. By pivoting downward, the engines can provide extra lift to clear obstacles, while pivoting to face backwards provides forward momentum. These jet engines are reliable and efficient compared to Imperial designs, but are still relatively noisy.

The Hammerhead is an extremely efficient main battle tank design. It has a well-earned reputation as a tank killer when it is armed with a Railgun. However, it can be equipped for a variety of tactical roles ranging from anti-infantry to eliminating specialised targets such as heavily armoured enemy combat walkers. During the Damocles Gulf Crusade, many Imperial tank crews quickly learned the hard way how deadly a Hammerhead can be during various engagements. During the Taros Campaign, Hammerhead gunships were used to their full potential in desert warfare, engaging Leman Russ Battle Tanks from extreme distances with the aid of forward Pathfinder and Stealthsuit teams before withdrawing. Many new weapon variants were also identified on Taros and as such, the Hammerhead saw use in all aspects of armoured warfare.

Armament
The Hammerhead can be mounted with a variety of primary and secondary weapon systems. Primary weapon systems are turret-mounted and can include: Secondary Weapons are mounted in the front recesses of the grav tank's hull and and are primarily deployed as anti-infantry weapons. These can include: Hammerhead gunships can also be equipped with any of the following equipment from the Tau Vehicle Armoury: Blacksun Filters, Decoy Launchers, Disruption Pods, Flechette Dischargers, Multi Trackers, Seeker Missiles, Sensor Spines and Target Locks. Hammerheads are equipped with a Targetting Array and Landing Gear as standard.
 * Railgun - Railguns are linear accelerators that fire a projectile at hyper-velocity speeds. They are primarily used to attack heavily armoured vehicles at long range. However, the Hammerhead variant of the railgun can also fire a submunition round, something the XV88 Broadside Battlesuit mounted Railgun can't do. Submunition rounds consist of a sophisticated bundle of smaller projectiles that provide suppresive area fire against infantry.
 * Ion Cannon - Ion Cannons fire a stream of high energy particles acclerated by an electromagnetic field. These magnetic particles react explosively with a target on an atomic level. They are mainly used for taking out light tanks and well-armoured infantry such as Space Marines.
 * Dual Missile Pod - Hammerhead mounted Missile Pods fire barrages of the same missiles used in Battlesuit-mounted Missile Pods. They serve a similar role to Ion Cannons, but sacrifice effectiveness against armoured infantry for a chance to hit more at a time.
 * Twin-linked Plasma Cannon - Twin-linked Plasma Cannons are more powerful versions of the Battlesuit-mounted Plasma Rifles. They are primarily used to take down light tanks and heavy infantry.
 * Twin-linked Fusion Cannon - Twin-linked Fusion Cannons are larger versions of the Battlesuit-mounted Fusion Blaster, and fire blasts of Melta energy to melt through vehicles or heavy infantry. Both the Plasma Cannon and Fusion Cannon variants of the Hammerhead gunship were first encountered during the Taros Campaign, where it is believed to have first been field-tested.
 * Twin-linked Burst Cannon - Twin-linked Long-Barrelled Burst Cannons are similar to the Battlesuit-mounted Burst Cannons. However, the long-barrelled version is more powerful and has a far longer range. They are excellent for mowing down infantry.
 * Two Burst Cannons which are exactly the same as the Battlesuit-mounted version.
 * Two Gun Drones which ride with the vehicle, and can disengage to move off by themselves.
 * A Smart Missile System which fires swarms of self-guided missiles each with a drone intelligence to hunt down targets that could not normally be seen or targeted.

Gallery
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