| Starships All text was taken from the official Star Wars Encyclopedia |
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| Snowspeeder: Highly modified airspeeders, a dozen of these Incom T-47 airspeeders became the Rebel Alliance's last line of defense when its icy base on Hoth was assaulted by Imperial walkers. Nicknamed snowspeeders, they delayed the Imperial onslaught long enough to let the Alliance escape. Incom T-47 airspeeders are modified for low atmospheric duty. They are powered by a pair of repulsorlift drive units and high-powered afterburners. Mechanical braking flaps located above each repulsor engine housing assist in maneuvers. Snowspeeders can reach more than 1,000 kilometers per hour, with an effective combat speed of about 600 kilometers per hour. Although they lack shield, their combat size and speed make them hard to target. For combat duty, snowspeeders are fitted with heavy armor plating and twin laser cannons. A harpoon gun with tow cable will be found as a standard tool on most T-47s. A snowspeeder seats a foward-facing pilot and a gunner, who sits with his pack to the pilot. Computerized targeting systems allow the gunner to target the foward laser cannons. |
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| TIE Interceptor: Faster and more maneuverable than the standard TIE/ln fighter, it stemmed from the advances developed for Darth Vader's TIE Advanced x1 Prototype. The TIE interceptor uses the standard TIE cockpit, drive pod, and wing braces. The solar panels appear to be dagger-shaped, makingthe interceptor more intimidating, while giving the ship a smaller profile, making it harder for Rebel gunners to target. The TIE interceptor has more powerful drives than the TIE/ln and is almost as fast as the New Republic's A-wing fighter. The TIE interceptor uses a new type of ion stream projector, allowing pilots to execute tight turns and rolls. Twin port deflectors can be manipulated individually for fine control and counterbalancing, making the TIE interceptor a superior choice for dogfights. The ship has four laser cannons, one at the end of each solar panel, and advanced targeting software gives the pilot greater firing accuracy. Like other TIE fighters, the TIE interceptor has a little armor plating and no shield generators. Interceptor pilots rely on their ship's maneuverability and superior numbers to survive engagements with better armed and armored New Republic fighters. With no onboard life-support system, TIE pilots must use fully sealed flight suits. The TIE interceptor has no hyperdrive and requires a large capital ship as a base of operations. The Empire intended the TIE interceptor to eventually replace entirely the TIE/ln, but by the death of the Emperor only about 20 percent of Imperial fighters were interceptors. As Grand Admiral Thrawn began his bid for power, he bagan arming some TIE interceptors with shields, knowing that the Empire could no longer consider these exceptional ships disposable. |
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| X-wing Starfighter: One of the Rebel Alliance's most advanced fighters, this ship played an impostant role in the first major Rebel Victory of the Galactic Civil War: the Battle of Yavin and the destruction of the first Death Star. The T-65 X-wing starfighter was the final design of its kind produced by Incom Corp. before the company was nationalized by the Empire. A Rebel commando team healped Incom's senior design staff defect to the Alliance with plans and prototypes of the X-wing, a devastating loss for the Empire. The X-wing takes its name from its pair of double-layered wings, which are developed into the familiar X-formation for combat and atmospheric flight. During normal sublight-speed space flight, the wings are closed. Each wing tip has a high-powered laser cannon. A pair of proton torpedo launchers are located midway up the main space-frame, each with a magazine of three torpedoes. In the hands of Luke Skywalker, two of those torpedoes were enough to set off a chain-reaction explosion that destroyed the Death Star. The X-wing is a one-pilot fighter. An astromech droid houded in a snug droid socket behind the pilot handles many inflight operations, such as damage control, astrogation jumps, and flight performance adjustment. Although the X-wing has an impressive combat record, much of that is due to the skills of Alliance pilots, and that, in turn, is at least partly due to the fack that the X-wing's controls are reminiscent of T-16 air vehicles found on frontier worlds. Bush pilots who have developed their reflexes on shuch vehicles easily make the adjustment to the X-wing's familiar controls. The X-wing is also known for its durability, with a reinforced titanium alloy hull and high-powered shield generators. It can normally take minor hits without a serious loss of performance, and has full ejection and life-support systems. X-wings have hyperdrive systems, which add flexibility to its list of attributes. Thirteen years after the Battle of Endor, a new model, the T-65D-A1, was approved by Gen. Wedge Antilles. The new design had a superb guidance system and theoretically was more efficient, because it combined its computer system and its astromech unit in one complete system, thereby eliminating the astromech droid. Luke Skywalker's X-wing was one of the first to be upgraded. However, he ordered that it be switched back to the older design, stating thathe couldn't imagine piloting his X-wing without R2-D2. During the rebuilding, Artoo, C-3PO, and mechanic Cole Fardreamer discovered that the new X-wing model had been sabotaged: Each of the new computer systems contained a hidden detonator, installed as part of Dark Jedi Kueller's campaign of terror against the New Republic. An embarrassed General Antilles ordered the new design scrapped. |