The Super Phoniex Hawk has its roots in the earliest days
of the Pesht Armored Cavalry, all the way back to 2695
when the unit purchased forty PXH-1s to serve as the
core of their new BattleMech arm. (And gave the Star
League and House Kurita units stationed on Pesht a heart
attack by fielding them unannounced.) Since then, the
Phoniex Hawk has been a favorite 'Mech of the Cav, and
SearcyWorks has something of a speciality in PXH repair,
refit, and modification.
The design's easily traceable origin, aside from the original
PXH-1, is the PXH-CAV Phoenix Hawk Cav, the refit
given to all Pesht Armored Cavalry Phoenix Hawks during
the 3052 Unit Overhaul. This is where it draws most of the
design basics from.
The origins of the OmniMech part, however, can be
traced back to 3056, when the Draconis Combine began
to test its own OmniMech designs. The SR1-O Strider
recieved uniformly poor reviews, yet it continued to be
produced and distributed because no one had something
better.
SearcyWorks came up with the the 'something better' in
3058 by 'Omniizing' their planned SPXH-1.
Perhaps the most interesting thing about the design is
upgraded Tek communications and targeting/tracking
gear. The Tek line has been known since the fall of the
Star League for its quality and excellence. While no longer
considered to be cutting-edge, Tek electronics are better
than most. The new SearcyWorks-produced Mk II
versions return the Tek line to the posistion of being
arguably the best in the Inner Sphere.

Capablities
The SPXH-1O reproduces the look and feel of the original
Phoenix Hawk even better than is the norm with a 'Super'
-series redesign, even fooling Clan and ComStar Warbook
systems 87% of the time. Few people will ever assume that
a PXH-1 is what it appears to be after having faced a
Super Phoenix Hawk. The SPXH-1O has ten tons more to
devote to weaponry than its parent, moves just as quickly,
and jumps just as far. To top it off, it mounts the maximum
possible amount of armor, 11.5 tons of SearcyWorks Plate
Medium, making it exceedingly tough for a 'Mech of its
weight class.
The Primary variant is simply an upgraded version of the
PXH-CAV, mounting an ER-PPC, two medium pulse
lasers, two machineguns, and a medium laser. This gives
the 'Mech respectable firepower, and the addition of four
extra double heatsinks reduces heat buildup to nil, even if
the pilot constantly fires all his weapons and runs at the
same time. If the 'Mech remains still, then even Inferno
missiles and large fires will have little effect on the Prime
version, even while it fires all its weapons! Even jumping
the full distance and firing all weapons will have a minimal
effect on the 'Mech, although doing it repeatedly will start
to build up heat fairly quickly.
The Alpha variant mounts a SearcyWorks Railgun-Lite
light Gauss rifle and two tons of ammunition, giving it
excellent range and punch, along with a pair of medium
pulse lasers. The light Gauss has gotten SearcyWorks in
trouble, however: Imperator Automatic Weaponry of the
FWL is screaming patent infringement. Theodore Kurita is
not very inclined to listen to them, however, and this is
contributing to a general cooling of Kurita/Marik relations.
The Beta variant mounts an Ultra AC/10 along with three
tons of ammunition, giving it reasonable staying power.
The weapon is backed up by two SearcyWorks HardLight
Advanced-2 ER medium lasers. The UAC-10 is in fact
purchased from the FWL in this case. SearcyWorks is
looking into producing a knock-off of the weapon, should
Imperator Automatic Weaponry decide to stop selling them
to the Draconis Combine over the light Gauss issue. They
have reverse-engineered the weapon and estimate that
they could retool an unused line in the SearcyWorks
weapons plant and be producing them in roughly five
weeks.

Deployment
The SPXH-1O is highly valued as a replacement for the
mediocre Strider. Consequently the Combine has snapped
up close to 200 of them, and has another 200 on order.
The Pesht Armored Cavalry has 35 of the new Phoenix
Hawks, mostly used to replace PXH-CAVs or older
medium 'Mechs. Almost every regiment in the DCMS has
at least one Super Phoenix Hawk, and most have several.
To date, SearcyWorks has been so busy filling orders from
the Combine it has yet to take any orders from outside the
Combine. Only two SPXH-1Os are known to be in the
hands of a non-Combine unit. The Kell Hounds have them
both, donated to the Tharkad invasion force as
replacements (and in trade for) for a pair of damaged
Verfolgers.