The Imperium remains in ignorance of much of the technology and design that has gone into the creation of the Hell Blade and the other Chaos aircraft of the dreaded Xana II lineage. This is in no small part the result of the frequently spectacular immolation and disintegration the aircraft undergoes when destroyed, a factor that some attribute to the escape of Warp forces from their bindings when the machine is destroyed. From observation and telemetric recordings, however, the Hell Blade can reach observed speeds of over 2,800 kilometres per hour in a standard atmosphere, with a cruising speed equal to perhaps two-thirds of this mark.