Barracuda

Tau Portal

The Barracuda air superiority fighter is the Tau's most common atmospheric aircraft.

Overview

Barracuda^[1a]

Faster than the Imperial Navy's Marauder Bomber, but lacking the top speed of the Thunderbolt or Lightning fighters, the Barracuda makes up for its shortcomings with its sophisticated electronics and pilots' natural talents.^[1a]

In a dogfight, Thunderbolts and Barracudas are very closely matched, with the Thunderbolt having the edge in speed but the Barracuda having the manoeuvrability. Despite this, Imperial pilots often have the hard edge of combat experience which the Tau's Air Caste pilots find difficult to match.^[1a] The Barracuda is very manoeuvrable, able to easily keep up with the evasiveness of a Thunderbolt, even pitching vertically upwards while maintaining forward momentum or backflipping tail over nose.^[8]

Armament and Equipment

A Barracuda is armed with a nose-mounted, pilot aimed Ion Cannon. This is the aircraft's primary weapon of use in dogfights, backed up by two drone controlled Burst Cannons in the wings. For ground attacks, it is primarily armed with wing mounted missile pods. When used in an ground attack role a Barracuda can carry additional armament of up to four Seeker missiles. These are not controlled by the pilot but by a Markerlight operator on the ground.^[1a] Varying by squadron, the Ion Cannon can be replaced with a Swiftstrike Burst Cannon or a Swiftstrike Railgun.^[7] Its weapons can lock onto enemy aircraft.^[8]

All Barracudas are equipped with escape pods; in the event that the aircraft sustains serious damage the pilot can eject. Some versions of Barracuda might include Blacksun Filters (night-fighting sensors), Disruption Pods and Decoy Launchers for additional protection.^[1a]

Notable Uses

Taros Campaign

On Taros, the Tau Coalition included a large Air Caste contingent, which formed an integral part of their strategy. Barracudas and Imperial Thunderbolts fought daily for the planet's air superiority. Flying from well-concealed desert airbases the Barracudas eventually won the battle.^[1c]

AX-5-2 Barracuda

Not only engaging in dogfights, the Barracudas also targeted the Imperial Guard's supply columns, operating in unison with Pathfinder teams in order to destroy Trojans and vital equipment. The Barracudas played a vital role in the Tau's strategy, eventually defeating the Imperial Guard and forcing it to retreat.^[1a]

AX-5-2 Barracuda

To combat the ever-increasing diversity of enemies faced by the expanding Tau Empire, the AX-5-2 Barracuda was developed as a multi-role fighter by the Earth Caste of the Vash'ya Sept. This new pattern maintained the unmatched agility and manoeuvrability of its forebears, but benefited from an improved power grid and enhanced combat avionics systems, as well as a variable weapons fit so that it could be rearmed swiftly between missions.^[4]

Aircraft specifications

Ordo Xenos Departmento Analyticus Record[1b]
Serial Number	85673-908462[1b]	Main Armament	Nose mounted Ion Cannon, wing mounted missile pods[1b]
Designation	Air Superiority Fighter[1b]
Vehicle Codename	Barracuda[1b]	Secondary Armament	2x Drone controlled Burst Cannons[1b]
Vehicle Type	Aircraft[1b]
Crew	Pilot[1b]	Traverse	0°[1b]
Weight	7 tonnes[1b]	Elevation	From +0° to -0°[1b]
Length	14.1M[1b]	Ammunition	8 Missiles. 8000 rounds[1b]
Width	11.4M[1b]	Armour Type	35mm,[2] Nano-Crystalline alloy (composition unknown)[1b]
Height	3.25M[1b]
Max Recorded Speed	2,100kph[1b] at 5,000 feet[6]
Summary	Frontline combat aircraft. Also carries seeker missile racks.[1b]

Images

• 

  Barracuda miniature

• 

  Tau Air Superiority Fighter Barracuda

• 

  Aeronautica Imperialis Barracudas and Tigersharks^[5]

Sources

• 1: Imperial Armour Volume Three - The Taros Campaign:
  • 1a: pg. 194
  • 1b: pg. 195
  • 1c: pg. 80
• 2: Imperial Armour Update, pg. 30
• 3: Forge World
• 4: Forge World
• 5: Warhammer Community: New Reveals from Nuremberg (posted 29/01/2020) (last accessed 29 January 2020)
• 6: Aeronautica Imperialis Game Rulebook, pg. 94
• 7: Aeronautica Imperialis: Taros Air War, pg. 87
• 8: Night Shriekers (Short Story) — Only War: Stories from the 41st Millennium (Anthology)