The Fire Raptor, also known as the Fire Raptor Gunship, is a specialised variant of the Storm Eagle gunship and was first used by the Space Marine Legions during the Great Crusade in the late 30th Millennium. The Fire Raptor replaces the storage capacity of the Storm Eagle with greater ammunition stowage in order to feed the voracious appetite of its numerous weapon systems. The Fire Raptor is usually deployed as heavy support for landing Astartes transports, such as the Thunderhawk, and during Drop Pod assaults.
The Fire Raptor is no longer a common sight within the armouries of the Adeptus Astartes and has largely vanished from the machine canon of the Adeptus Mechanicus for many thousands of standard years. In the late 41st Millennium the Fire Raptor is slowly being fielded in increasing numbers across countless war zones, suggesting that an as-yet unidentified Adeptus Mechanicus Forge World or Space Marine Chapter Forge has come into possession of a complete Standard Template Construct (STC) imprint for the aircraft. A small number of far older Fire Raptors, some dating back to the time of the Great Crusade, are known to exist within the armouries of a very small number of Chapters, precious relics of that lost age of glory that was so cruelly curtailed when the galaxy was consumed by the raging fires of the Horus Heresy. These aircraft are only ever used during the most dire of circumstances, as they are true relics and are greatly revered by their Chapter. Only the sanctioned blessings of a senior officer of the Chapter, such as an Interrogator-Chaplain, Reclusiarch, Master of the Forge, or a Rune Priest can give the order to endanger one of these ancient relics. The Fire Raptor is also found in small numbers within the armouries of the Traitor Legions and Renegade Space Marine Chapters, some as relics from the Horus Heresy, and others captured or scavenged from the battlefield. Many times these ancient vehicles will remain hidden away within a Chaos Space Marine warband's armoury until a Warpsmith allows it to be used in combat.
The Fire Raptor carries a formidable range of heavy weaponry, most destructive of which is its nose-mounted twin-linked Avenger Bolt Cannons. The craft is also armed with two waist-mounted ball turrets, each manually operated by a Space Marine gunner, allowing them to engage targets independently of the vehicle’s main weapons. These weapons can include quad-linked Heavy Bolters, twin-linked Autocannons, or, if the Fire Raptor comes from the dark armouries of the Chaos Space Marines, it may be armed with a Reaper Battery. The aircraft is also armed with four wing-mounted Hellstrike Missiles, or if it belongs to the Blood Angels Chapter, it can be armed with a Revelation-class Warhead Battery. The Fire Raptor is also equipped with a Machine Spirit and extra armour plating. A Chaos Fire Raptor can have its Machine Spirit replaced with an enslaved Warp Daemon. All Fire Raptors can be outfitted with armoured ceramite plating for extra protection from enemy fire.
The Fire Raptor Gunship is known to have at least one variant:
- Fire Raptor Destroyer - The Fire Raptor Destroyer is a variant of the Fire Raptor, though there is currently no information listed in Adeptus Mechanicus records concerning the actual differences between the Destroyer variant and the standard Fire Raptor.
Adeptus Mechanicus Technical SpecificationsEdit
|Vehicle Name||Fire Raptor||Max Speed||Unknown|
|Forge World of Origin||Unknown||Range||Unknown|
|Known Patterns||Unknown||Main Armament||Nose-mounted twin-linked Avenger Bolt Cannons|
|Crew||Unknown||Secondary Armament||4 wing-mounted Hellstrike Missiles, two hull-mounted ball turrets with either quad-linked Heavy Bolters or twin-linked Autocannons|
|Wingspan||Unknown||Superstructure||55 millimetres (approx.)|
|Height||Unknown||Hull||65 millimetres (approx.)|
|Transport Capacity||N/A||Access Points||
1 Rear Ramp
- Imperial Armour Volume Ten - The Badab War - Part Two, pg. 165
- The Horus Heresy - Book Three: Extermination (Imperial Armour) (Forthcoming)
- Forge World - Fire Raptor Gunship
- Forge World - Fire Raptor Gunship Experimental Rules Datasheet