A Voss Pattern Lightning Strike Fighter
The Primaris-Lightning Strike Fighter, also known as the Voss Pattern Lightning Strike Fighter, is a variant of the more common and less advanced Imperial Lightning Air Superiority Fighter. The Primaris-Lightning is a sub-orbital fighter craft designed for high-speed interception, interdiction and surgical-strike roles.
History[]
The Primaris-Lightning Strike Fighter was developed near the end of the Great Crusade by the Archmagos Arbiter Sykosk Thule, master of the sovereign Forge World of Voss. The craft represented a new paradigm of aero-warcraft, and was built around an extremely powerful forced-plasma ramjet drive and was optimised for the most sophisticated of munitions and avionics of the time. The Primaris-Lightning exceeded all similar patterns of aircraft in service to the Imperium of its size in speed, payload and capacity, however the craft proved extremely costly to produce, difficult to maintain and difficult to handle by all but the most experienced of pilots. These factors resulted in the Primaris-Lightning only being issued to the most well-resourced of the Space Marine Legions and to the Mechanicum itself. However, rumours persisted of a degraded version of the Lightning that was more easy to operate and maintain that was under consideration for incorporation within the Imperial military just prior to the outbreak of the Horus Heresy. This alternate pattern played no part in the conflict, and would not make its appearance until many Terran years later as the standard Lightning fighter.
Armament[]
The Primaris-Lightning Strike Fighter is a heavily armed strike fighter and was specifically designed to make use of some of the most advanced and savage munitions in the arsenal of the Imperium during the later Great Crusade era, arguably at the height of the Imperium's technological apex. Sometimes these included unstable weapons of baleful design and born of the darkest arts of the Mechanicum's priests of the machine. The Primaris-Lightning's basic loadout was a set of hull-mounted twin-linked Lascannons. The aircraft featured three additional dual-hardpoint weapon mounts located under its wings which could hold a vast array of weaponry, including sets of twin-linked Autocannons, twin-linked Multi-Lasers or twin-linked Missile Launchers. The hardpoints could also deploy munitions such as Sunfury Heavy Missiles, Kraken Penetrator Heavy Missiles, Phosphex Bomb Clusters or Electromagnetic Storm Charges. The Primaris-Lightning could be outfitted with an Armoured Cockpit, Chaff Launchers, a Battle Servitor Control, Ground-tracking Auguries and a Ramjet Diffraction Grid.
Unit Composition[]
- 1 Primaris-Lightning Strike Fighter
Wargear[]
A standard Primaris-Lightning Strike Fighter is armed and equipped with:
- twin-linked Lascannons (hull mounted)
- Armoured Cockpit
- Chaff Launcher
The Primaris-Lightning Strike Fighter was equipped with three dual-hardpoint weapon mounts, each of which could be outfitted with one of the following:
- twin-linked Autocannons
- twin-linked Multi-Lasers
- twin-linked Missile Launchers
- Two Sunfury Heavy Missiles
- Two Kraken Penetrator Heavy Missiles
- Two Electromagnetic Storm Charges
- Phosphex Bomb Cluster
A Primaris-Lightning Strike Fighter armed with a set of twin-linked Missile Launchers may be equipped with the following ordnance:
A Primaris-Lightning Strike Fighter may may also be outfitted with any of the following:
- Battle Servitor Control
- Ground-tracking Auguries
- Ramjet Diffraction Grid
Sources[]
- The Horus Heresy - Book Two: Massacre (Forge World Series) by Alan Bligh, pg. 199
- The Horus Heresy - Book Three: Extermination (Forge World Series) by Alan Bligh, pp. 150-151
- The Horus Heresy - Book Four: Conquest (Forge World Series) by Alan Bligh, pg. 276
- The Horus Heresy - Book Six: Retribution (Forge World Series) by Alan Bligh, pp. 146-147
- The Horus Heresy: Legiones Astartes - Age of Darkness Army List, pp. 52-53
- Forge World - Voss Pattern Lightning Air Superiority Fighter
Gallery[]
