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Thanks for choosing the best.
—A confident Warhawk pilot
Warhicon

The Warhawk is an attack helicopter used by the United States. It is armed to the teeth with laser weapons to damage and weaken their enemies.

Official description

The Warhawk is a lightly armored attack helicopter used by the Americans for close air support. It is outfitted with a heavy laser cannon to light infantry ablaze and slice through tank armor, as well as another laser contraption, a small target painter similar to the one used by the Mercury Satellite, which it uses to mark enemy targets that may pose a significant threat, enabling US forces to deal additional damage to these targets. The Warhawk does not carry any anti-aircraft weaponry and relies on its quick speed to evade potential threats.[1]

Overview

Warpainter

Warhawks targeting a Soviet Ore Refinery; one of them uses its target painter, while the other destroys it with its laser

The Warhawk is an assault attack helicopter utilized by US forces to deal with hostile ground units. It is available for production in the War Factory after building a Mercury Uplink.

The Warhawk has very fragile armor but is one of the fastest helicopters in the game, easily capable of outrunning most opposition. Mobile, versatile, relatively cheap (for an air unit), and decent against ground units, their roles may include assault, harassment, scouting and air superiority, especially during the early and middle phases of the game. While rather weak alone, in large numbers they can be a threatening force to be reckoned with.

However, they should avoid anti-aircraft weaponry at all costs no matter how large their numbers are. Heavy anti-air units such as Sentinels will destroy them by the dozens, and Warhawks themselves cannot fire back at other aircraft themselves. They also deal relatively poor damage against structures and base defenses.

Weapon stages

The Warhawk uses a weapon cycle that allows it to fire different weapons on the same target. It always starts at the laser cannon once it switches targets.

  • Stage 1: Lasts until 200 frames (13.3 in-game seconds), during which the Warhawk will use the laser cannon.
  • Stage 2: Lasts until 230 frames (15.3 in-game seconds), during which the Warhawk will use the target painter.
  • Stage 3: Lasts until 330 frames (22 in-game seconds), during which the Warhawk will use the laser cannon. Once Stage 3 ends, the cycle repeats.

Appearances

Cooperative

  • In Good Old Times, an elite Warhawk is the only controllable unit for the player that starts in the 2nd position.

Act One

  • The Warhawk is introduced as a buildable unit in Beautiful Mind. In this mission, the Warhawk additionally requires the Tech Secret Lab located near the player's base in order to be built.

Assessment

Pros Cons
  • Fast and mobile.
  • Can fire on the move.
  • Decent against ground units.
  • Target painter amplifies damage taken by enemies.
  • Can self-repair.
  • Modestly inexpensive for an aircraft.
  • No air-to-air capabilities.
  • Lightly armored.
  • Fragile, easy to kill with anti-air weapons.
  • Not very effective against heavily armored vehicles and base defenses.

Behind the scenes

  • In 3.0 the Warhawk is armed with concussion grenades to attack enemy structures instead of a target painter.

Trivia

  • The unit's employment of laser weaponry bears resemblance to the Laser Comanche, a variant of the standard USA Comanche that was planned but scrapped during development in Generals Zero Hour.

References

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