XV95 Ghostkeel Battlesuit

The XV95 Ghostkeel Battlesuit stands at the pinnacle of Tau stealth technology, a battlesuit created specifically for use behind enemy lines in the most gruelling conditions. Its shas’vre pilot is a highly skilled Stealth Team operative, one of the few warriors in a cadre trusted to operate autonomously for extended periods of time.

The Ghostkeel stands more than three times the height of a Space Marine, its armoured body sharing a similar design to the XV22 Stealthsuit worn by Commander Shadowsun. Despite its size, the Ghostkeel’s armoured frame is obscured by a series of overlapping stealth fields produced by the two MV5 Stealth Drones that accompany it into battle. While some Drones are seen as expendable assets, these two are invaluable to the Ghostkeel’s shas’vre, who often forms an unnaturally strong bond with them while on extended missions behind enemy lines.

History
As conflict with the Imperium escalates, so the Tau way of war adapts at an alarming rate. With unyielding resistance threatening to halt the Third Sphere Expansion at every turn, Tau Stealth Teams find themselves behind enemy lines for ever more protracted periods; hence the development of the XV95 Ghostkeel Battlesuit, a mighty, nighun-detectable battlesuit designed specifically for extended operations behind enemy lines – and one capable of destroying entire armoured squadrons.

Tactical Role
The XV95 Ghostkeel is the latest innovation in Tau stealth technology, a battlesuit designed for covert operations behind enemy lines. Shrouded by stealth fields, the Ghostkeel appears without warning, obliterating nearby foes before fading back into the shadows. Though sometimes seen as eccentric loners, Ghostkeel pilots are the epitome of the Mont’ka – the Killing Blow – striking precisely where they need to with unerring accuracy. Used to sow confusion and destruction in the enemy ranks, the XV95 is a terror weapon designed to leave the enemy in a state of panic and disorder as they search in vain for their mysterious attacker. Enveloped by overlapping stealth fields projected by its attendant Drones, the Ghostkeel is virtually invisible even in open terrain. Targeting arrays and scopes simply slide off its holophoton projectors while scanners and auspexes are baffled by the battlesuit’s electrowarfare suite, pinging back false readings and contradictory data.

Armament
Where the cyclic ion raker is designed for atomising large blocks of infantry with a stream of high-impact energy projectiles, the fusion collider employs sub-atomic agitation to super-heat its target, vaporising living creatures and turning armoured vehicles into molten slag; a silent weapon for a silent killer. The Ghostkeel also mounts a second weapon system on its shoulders. Like other stealth battlesuits, the Ghostkeel is concealed by a high-tech stealth field that mimics its surroundings, the generators and regulators necessary to maintain it mounted all over the armoured panels of the suit. The stealth field is further amplified and enhanced by the electrowarfare suite mounted on the suit’s left arm and the two MV5 Stealth Drones that accompany it into battle, making the Ghostkeel virtually impossible to see right up to the moment it opens fire.

Source

 * White Dwarf 89, "Death From the Shadows", pp. 3-5, 7