Corvus Blackstar

The Corvus Blackstar is an air-to-ground attack flyer and dropship used exclusively by the forces of the Deathwatch. The Corvus Blackstar is a sleek and deadly aircraft, much prized by watch fortresses across the galaxy. Like a knife slipping in between the ribs of a colossus, the Blackstar penetrates the outer defences of the alien host to strike directly at its heart. Though small enough to slip through the sensor grids of most xenos strongholds, its weapon systems are highly advanced, allowing the Blackstar to cause devastating impact for a craft of its size.

The war hangars of the Deathwatch are replete with every kind of aircraft the Adeptus Astartes have ever sanctioned. However, such is the Corvus Blackstar’s quality that it is used almost exclusively in Kill Team missions that involve air-to-ground engagement. Primarily it fulfils the role of transport, combining the hurtling speed of the Drop Pod with the manoeuvrability of a Stormtalon Gunship and the offensive capability of a far larger craft. Propelled by vectored engines mounted on the wing and behind the craft, the Blackstar is nimble enough to dart through winding canyons, the elegant star-spires of a craftworld, or even the guts of a Tyranid hive ship in order to bring a surgical strike to the enemy’s heart. Once in position it changes from fighter craft to hover vehicle with a twist of the engines, its front-mounted doors yawning open with a hiss of pistons so that the Deathwatch operatives inside can leap out and charge directly into the fight.

The pilot of each Blackstar is a veteran Techmarine who has earned the right to field it over long and arduous years of schooling. The pilot uses the same machine each time; so intense is this training that the Techmarine’s indomitable will and that of the aircraft’s machine spirit become interlinked. This allows the pilot to pull off aerial manoeuvres so spectacular he can leave all but the pilots of the unnaturally skilled Eldar floundering in his wake.

The Corvus Blackstar’s first priority is often to secure aerial supremacy. To ensure its Kill Team reaches the fray intact, the Blackstar will plummet through low orbit to fall upon the aircraft or winged bioforms of the enemy like a raptor diving into a flock of prey. Once on the tail of its victims, it will shoot down the enemy craft it judges to be the greatest threat. While many Blackstars mount twin-linked assault cannons, some bear a prow-mounted lascannon array, able to channel the penetrative power of the godhammer pattern guns to destroy heavily armoured targets. Many of these craft carry a Blackstar rocket launcher under their wings, equipped with a profusion of missiles. These allow the pilot to choose dracos air-to-ground warheads that turn swathes of xenos-infested ground into flesh-melting conflagrations, or corvid rockets whose spiteful machine spirits seek and destroy enemy aircraft so that their master might rule the skies alone.

At a single thought-impulse from the Techmarine these prow and wing-mounted weapons can be calibrated for strafing runs. In such circumstances, auxiliary grenade launchers mounted at the rear enable the craft to rain down a hail of explosive projectiles – either infernus grenades that detonate in clouds of burning promethium, or frag charges that hurl deadly shrapnel over a wide area. A full squadron of Blackstars can clear a beachhead amongst a Tyranid swarm in a matter of moments before their passengers descend to deliver the killing blow.

The Blackstar has advanced systems to ensure its survival from the inevitable reprisal. Its robust construction can shrug off even a direct hit from enemy flak, and when fitted with an infernum halo-launcher it becomes extremely difficult to land a telling blow. Should an enemy missile, drone warhead or similar explosive device close in on the Blackstar, high-calibre auspicator arrays will detect its aura of hostility, and send a wide spread of decoys, interceptors and flares to thwart the incoming munitions. It appears as if the Blackstar spreads wings of smoke and fire behind it, a sight known to the Chapter’s warriors as the Wings of the Sky Angel. Many a primitive culture, saved from the predations of the alien, has seen the Blackstar that brought their deliverance as a mechanical seraph and worshipped it for generations afterwards.

Combat Role
On the strategic scale as well as the tactical, the Deathwatch are noted for their use of advanced technologies. They strike with clockwork precision, whether their assault numbers a single kill team or several watch companies working together. The Watch Captains ensure each team reaches its target at the critical moment, their fine tuned war plan a series of overlapping attacks from which there can be no salvation, the Corvus Blackstars soar from the clouds, disembarkation doors wide to allow the Deathwatch within to drop directly into combat.