Stealthsuit Team
The Stealthsuit Team is the "lone wolf" of the Tau Empire's military and are the equivalent of Space Marine Scouts or any similar unit.
Overview
Equipped with either the XV15 or the newer XV25 Stealthsuit, these teams operate independently from other military formations. In fact, they are not usually factored directly into Tau battle plans, and so enjoy an unusual degree of freedom within broad mission parameters, with team leaders gaining a reputation of eccentricity as they employ unorthodox tactics. Operating in teams of three to six members, including the team leader, their primary role is to ambush isolated enemies and act in support of friendly units, often ranging far ahead of the main Tau army. Examples of this include the Taros Campaign, where Stealth teams were able to almost consistently attack imperial convoys full of water, munitions, and supplies, forcing the Imperium to concentrate forces to try and protect these formations, leading to fewer units on the front lines, meaning fewer units to fight the Tau. In short, they lost the war of Attrition. They also played a minor, albeit important harassing role on Imperial armor during the Damocles Gulf Crusade.
Stealthsuit teams do sometimes play a more integral part in planning and executing a mission - i.e., when acting as part of a Rapid Insertion Force.
Equipment
In addition to their jetpack-equipped Stealth armour, each member is armed with a burst cannon, and all may take one Battlesuit support system. Members may also replace their burst cannon with a Fusion Blaster, though no more than two are allowed in a full six-member team. The team leader may also swap his Burst Cannon for a Fusion Gun and if he is of Shas'vre rank, he is allowed a markerlight.
Crunch
Despite how amazing these things sound, they aren't perfect. For almost 84 points you get three of these with burstcannons, which are alright against GEQs, but flounder against MEQs due to the lack of AP. One Member of the Team can be upgraded with a Fusion Gun, which gives you an AP of -4, dealing damage on a D6. You can even stick a Support system on these things, like shield generators, the Automatic Targetting System, which can turn your AP -4 fusion gun into an AP -5 rape gun, or the drone controller, which can, if equipped in a full unit, make your marker (or any drone) hit on a 2+. The fly keyword and 3+ save is also very good, and can reduce this to a 2+ with cover, seeing as they have the INFANTRY keyword. However, their real purpose is to use your 20 point homing beacon to call in a unit using Manta drop rules. So if you expected hard to hit Cheese, you will be sorely dissapointed, but very happy when you can Drop a Crisis team to wreck the face of those blasted Primaris Marines that are bugging you to no end.