X-wing
The X-wing, a fictional starfighter in the Star Wars universe, is the main all-purpose craft of the Rebel Alliance. In A New Hope, the X-wing was the craft that Luke Skywalker used to destroy the Empire's first Death Star.The Sikorsky X-wing, an experimental helicopter/fixed-wing aircraft hybrid developed in the 1980s, was likely named for the fictional craft.
The X-wing pilots of Rogue Squadron are the subject of several series of novels and video games. The craft is also used extensively in the X-wing computer game series. It is reasonably manoeuverable and carries four laser cannons, along with tubes for proton torpedoes. Other warheads such as concussion missiles can be fired from the launchers, but this requires a considerable amount of time and effort on the part of the technical crews, and the overall versatility of the proton torpedo is ideally suited to the X-wingÃÂÃÂs varied mission profile.
X-wings have pairs of wing-like strike foils, or S-foils, mounted at the rear of the craft; normally the foils on each side are locked flush against each other, but during combat the foils are folded out to increase the spread coverage of the laser cannons mounted at the tips of the foils. This gives the craft its distinctive "X"-like appearance when viewed from the front or rear. The cannons on some earlier models cannot be fired with the S-foils in locked position.
The X-wing's lasers have various settings:
- Single fire, where laser fires individually;
- Dual fire, where two lasers, one on each side, pair up and the pairs fire alternately; or
- Quad fire, where all four lasers (one at each foil-tip) fire together, converging on the target.
The X-wing was originally designed by Incom Corporation for the Empire, but the entire engineering team defected to the Rebel Alliance with the prototypes.
The X-Wing has been continually updated throughout its design lifetime. The original T-65AC1 fielded by the Rebel Alliance was a competent strike fighter for its time, but was soon supplanted by the T-65AC2, boasting improved acceleration. The T-65AC3 improved the avionics, shields and sensors; the T-65AC4 was primarily another engine upgrade, which made it nearly the equal of the A-wing. One notable design, the T-65D-A1, replaced the astromech droid with an internal computer core for hyperdrive jump calculations but was considered a failure (partially due to ease of sabotage).
Shortly before the Vong invasion, the New Republic fielded the "J" series of X-Wing, this time using two twin-port engines rather than four single-drive engines. In addition, a third torpedo bay was added where previously a cargo bay was fitted; this increased proton torpedo loadout to nine. The "XJ" was greatly improved in all respects over the earlier designs and was initially issued to starfighter squadrons with Jedi pilots. Three varients were developed, cumulating with the T-65J3: the ultimate evolution of the X-Wing. Many older X-Wings were rebuilt into the T-65BR reconnaisance varient.
It had been intended that the X-Wing series would be replaced by the E-Wing approximately six years after the Battle of Endor but initial design issues relating to the weapons placement precluded wide-scale deployment; by the time the crisis with the reborn Emperor was over the New Republic Defense Forces apparently did not consider the E-Wing to be worth the additional cost compared to newer-production X-Wings. In particular, transitioning to a wholly new starfighter would have meant considerable retraining of the New Republic's starfighter corp and replacement of much of the logistics chain.
A LucasArts computer game "X-Wing" was made that is based on this spacecraft. See X-wing computer game series.