The Black Hawk-KU is quite literally Kurita putting IS tech on a Nova. As far as the story goes of Battletech goes, it is a Nova rebuilt by Kuritan engineers. You can read more on it here.
https://www.sarna.ne...i/Black_Hawk-KU
As far as booster pack content goes, I'd say the BHKU is pretty good value compared to previous booster packs(though nothing beats that Phoenix Hawk and Stalker pack lol)
The IIC mechs were completely new models from the ground up because they're new mechs. When deciding with cauldron which mechs we were open to make for IS omnis, one stipulation I put early on was that I wasn't comfortable with kitbashing parts from existing mechs and calling it something "new." I limited the choices to mechs that were, according the battletech story, chassis that are already in MWO that were entirely just tech swapped. Perseus, Gauntlet, Black Hawk KU, Centurion Omni, Firestarter Omni, Blackjack Omni, Arctic Fox, etc. Mechs that, according to their Sarna page, read out as "we took X mech and made it omni."
After that, we decided the BHKU was the safest option to dive into the world of IS Omnimech balance. Didn't want to do something too crazy when it's something we've never tried before. One thing I realized I didn't like from previous tech swap mechs is that their silhouettes are the same and you often can't tell the difference between the two until they shoot. So the extra coolant pods and torso bits on the BHKU are meant to alleviate that and make it recognizable as a Black Hawk instead of a Nova.
All in all, I'm looking forward to this patch. After the dust settles we can sit down and analyze which IS omnimechs(if any) we want to follow this up with.
Or I forget all about the BHKU because [REDACTED] is coming out next month and that's my baby.