Ubisoft has begun releasing small details about the next season of Rainbow Six Siege, starting with the name North Star. So far information is scarce, but as revealed in February's Year 6, we know that the next operator will be from the Nakoda Nation, an indigenous tribe in western Canada Ubi's key art for North Star shows the Canadian military actually using air and sea rescue helicopters (the Copterheads are AgustaWestland CH-149 Cormorants).

As much as I would love to fly a helicopter in "Siege," it seems highly unlikely. The search and rescue theme is consistent with leaks and rumors about Siege's next operator, which is supposedly codenamed "Thunderbird" (cool). We have been hearing for some time that there may be a new type of healing operator in the game, and the look of the upcoming gadget, recently shared by R6leaks on Twitter, may be the culprit.

Perhaps the defender, Thunderbird, might deploy a "Kona Station" to heal nearby players. We can infer this from the operator icon with a small medical cross on the device; R6 Leaks has also released a short low-resolution video of the device in action, but it doesn't reveal much about how it actually works. Based on its appearance and the track record of Siege's recent gadgets, it seems very likely that Kona will heal anyone who stands in its vicinity, regardless of friend or foe.

In any case, the new healing gadget is significant. Since its launch, Doc's dour stimpistol has been the only means of recovery when defending. On offense, Finca's nanoboost provides a temporary health surge for all teammates, but the attackers still lack a suitable medic.

The same reliable leaker also suggests that Thunderbird could use the Spear .308 assault rifle as a defender. Assault rifles are usually reserved for attackers for balance reasons, and the few exceptions usually involve some trade-off in range or optics. The Thunderbird version of the Speer may involve a similar trade-off (but we have not actually seen it in leaked images, so we should take it with a grain of salt).

Ubisoft's normal schedule for pre-season reveals should give us more information about Northstar within the next week.