Hydra Flak Tank

Manufactured on hundreds of forge worlds, the Hydra is a self-propelled anti-aircraft vehicle raised on the familiar Chimera chassis. Its purpose is mobile air defence, screening columns on the march and vital installations from enemy aircraft when the Imperial Navy cannot spare cover of its own.

The tank's teeth are its twin-linked long-barrelled autocannons, four barrels in all, hurling heavy-calibre explosive rounds at a ferocious six hundred shots a minute, enough to tear an aircraft's fuselage apart on a lucky burst. A hull-mounted heavy bolter, smoke launchers and a searchlight round out its wargear.

What lets the Hydra hit such fleeting targets is its auto-targeting system. The turret is served by a machine spirit and a predictive logic-engine that acquires an enemy aircraft, calculates its course, and tracks it relentlessly through even the most violent evasive manoeuvres. When no skyborne threat presents itself, the Hydra lowers its guns and turns that same withering rate of fire on infantry and light vehicles, making it a punishing weapon in the ground role as well. Grim and reliable, it is the umbrella beneath which the Guard advances.