Sky Ray

The Sky Ray Missile Defence Gunship is a variant of the more common Tau Hammerhead gunship, and provides a dedicated missile platform that is used by the Tau Fire Caste to provide point attack fire support for Fire Warrior Teams, who lack their own heavy weaponry. When guided by the Marker Lights of Tau Pathfinder teams, the Sky Ray makes an exceptional perimeter and air defense missile system. The Sky Ray is often regarded as the Tau equivalent of a heavy artillery platform, as they lack standard mobile heavy artillery platforms like the Basilisk vehicles that the Imperium possesses.

Construction
The overall design of the Sky Ray is based off the chassis for the Devilfish APC, like the Hammerhead Gunship. 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 Sky Ray has two crew members, which are the pilot and the weapon's operator.

Combat Role
During the Damocles Gulf Crusade, the Tau learned many lessons about the Imperium's military forces, and the Tau quickly adapted their new knowledge to practical battlefield uses. The Sky Ray is an example of this, and was developed by the Tau Earth Caste after the Crusade as a direct response to Imperial airpower. Early versions of the Sky Ray required the crew to manually find and lock-on to targets with its missiles, but it has since been integrated into the wider Marker Light control network which greatly enchanced its battlefield effectiveness. It is primarily an air defence vehicle, using its missiles to strike down enemy aircraft. The Sky Ray's advanced targetting systems and ability to launch its missiles with enormous accuracy from long distances at low-flying enemy aircraft makes it extremely effective in its primary anti-aircraft role. However, it can also be used in ground combat in conjunction with Pathfinder teams as an artillery and/or direct strike vehicle due to its fast targetting system re-calibration. The Sky Ray does suffer from a lack of ammunition-carrying capacity, which means it cannot operate effectively for longer periods of time. Many Tau commanders eschew using them in favour of Hammerheads due to their lack of armour protection and ammunition deficiencies. Sky Rays are commonly deployed as a single vehicle attached to a Hunter Cadre, or as part of a defence for important strategic locations such as Tau airbases and headquarters. Sky Rays are indispensable weapons for Tau forces facing opponents that maintain strong air supoort forces, like the Imperium of Man.

During the Taros Campaign, Sky Rays were a common attachment to mobile armoured Hunter Cadres operating in the desert and proved as a highly effective weapon in both air defence and against ground targets. They would often be deployed behind a skirmish screen of Pathfinders where their multiple Seeker Missiles would often be the opening volley of an engagement on Imperial Guard columns.

Armament
A Sky Ray's primary armament is a Seeker Missile Turret Array that can be fitted with up to 6 Seeker Missiles. This array also features two Networked Marker Lights. Seeker Missiles mounted on a Sky Ray are not controlled by the Sky Ray itself, but by Marker Lights from support forces such as Pathfinders, or the Sky Ray's own Marker Lights. The actual missiles are extremely fast and can take down enemy aircraft and medium armour alike from extreme ranges, as long as the target has been designated with a Marker Light. The course of the missile is determined by data fed by the Marker Light, such as range, target speed and target type. Sky Rays are also armed with secondary weapons which are mounted in the front recesses of the tank. These are primarily deployed as anti-infantry weapons, and can include: As with all other Tau skimmercraft based off the Devilfishchassis, Sky Rays are equipped with built-in landing gear to allow the vehicle to land on the ground if needed. Sky Rays are also automatically equipped with a Target Lock system, which automatically identifies potential targets and plots fire plans accordingly. This grants the gunners more choice in targets to engage. Sky Rays can be equipped with any of the following Tau vehicle upgrade systems:
 * Two Burst Cannons that 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 a swarm of self-guided missiles, each outfitted with a drone intelligence to hunt down targets that could not normally be seen or targeted.
 * Blacksun Filter - Blacksun Filters allow the vehicle its gunners to accurately see and target enemies in low-light conditions.
 * Decoy Launchers - Decoy Launchers are a form of defensive measure that is mounted near the engines. They are capable of firing clouds of reflective strips and sophisticated electronic decoys, which are combined with flare and chaff launchers to protect the tank's thruster arrays.
 * Disruption Pods - Disruption Pods display distorting holographic images in the visual and magnetic spectra to make the vehicle harder to target. T
 * Flechette Dischargers - Flechette Dischargers line the hull and fire high-velocity flechettes at infantry which try to assault the vehicle.
 * Multi Tracker - A Multi Tracker consists of advanced stabilisers that allows the vehicle to fire accurately even while moving at speed.
 * Sensor Spines - Sensor Spines feed data to an advanced ground-following flight control system. This allows the vehicle to avoid hazardous terrain that could otherwise damage the vehicle's drive systems.
 * Target Lock - A Target Lock computer automatically identifies potential targets and plots fire plans accordingly. This grants the gunners more choice and accuracy in engaging various targets.
 * Targeting Array - Computer-aided Targeting Arrays are sophisticated targeting systems that aid the gunners' aim in firing upon enemy targets