Black Hawk (BattleMech)

Description
This non-OmniMech version of the Nova, named Black Hawk, was developed by Clan Hell's Horses to allow easy production within their occupation zone. The Black Hawk is also produced by Clan Diamond Shark, though with older, cheaper weapons and electronics, and mainly for sale on the Inner Sphere market. The Black Hawk didn't excel in any particular role, be it scouting, long-range fire or brawling, but it was a solid, rugged and inexpensive design, swiftly making it popular with forces such as mercenary units and the planetary militias of independent worlds. By the mid-Thirty-second century the Black Hawk could be found in all of the Inner Sphere militaries, as well as many of the Clans - particularly the Hell's Horses, Sea Foxes and Clan Wolf-in-Exile.

Weapons and Equipment
The Black Hawk carries eight and a half tons of standard armor, a ton and a half less than the Nova, and uses an Endo Steel internal structure. The weight saved enables it to mount a pair of Series 7K ER Large Lasers for direct fire support and four Pattern J4 Streak SRM-4s for close range work. The Streak launchers were located in the 'Mech's arms, but the lasers were mounted in the left and right torso, while four tons of ammunition for the Streak launchers were split across the left and right torsos.

Variants

 * Black Hawk (Standard) 2 : First produced in 3092, this variant carries the paired ER Large Lasers of the standard, but mounts dual ATM 6s, each fed by three tons of ammunition. It also adds a ton of armor protection.  BV (1.0) = 1,964  BV (2.0) = 2,161


 * Black Hawk (Standard) 3 : The 3 answers the demands from the market, first produced in 3092. Based on the Second Variant, engineers removed the ATMs, which free enough space to add two ER Medium Lasers in each arm. The number of Double Heat Sinks was increased to twenty-two for continued fighting over a longer period of time. BV (2.0) = 2,317

Note

 * The Black Hawk was first created by Wizkids' MechWarrior Dark Age Collectible Miniatures game as a part the game's original release of their Dark Age. It was used for both regular units and the game's unique figures. Standard's weapons layout would first appear in then Classic BattleTech's first adaptation of figures from Wizkid's figures in Record Sheets: MechWarrior Dark Age Book I authored by Randall Bills. Due to Wizkid's game mechanics, it did not allow for Omni ability of the original Nova aka Black Hawk. This is why, though it shares the same name, Black Hawk Standard is not the same 'Mech. It was later adapted by Catalyst Game Labs and redefined in the tabletop game once the company advanced the franchise's timeline to 3145, with early Record Sheets first appearing in PDF-Only Turning Point Series book, Dark Age Tuning Points: Liao and later fully adapted into Technical Readout: 3145 Mercenaries with full background information.

Related BattleMechs

 * Nova - The Black Hawk was developed as a standard BattleMech version of this OmniMech.