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E-wing multi-role starfighter, also called E-wing escort starfighter, was an attack and close support fighter developed by FreiTek Inc | FreiTek, Inc.OrganizationManufacturers |
.E-Wing was the first fighter designed and executed entirely under the auspices of the New Republic. Intended as a defensive interceptor, it was a heavy, combat dedicated ship. The vessel was akin to the B-wing | B-WingStarshipStarfighter Models |
and Y-wing | BTL Y-WingStarshipStarfighter Models |
designs - designed to take punishment and return it back to its adversary. To simplify the design, FreiTek eliminated movable S-foils in favor of a fixed wing design, resulting in a more reliable and cheaper fighter, but the cost was still high because of the E-wing’s impressive weaponry. A major breakthrough has been a totally redesigned hyperdrive interface. Developed in conjunction with Industrial Automaton | Industrial AutomatonOrganizationManufacturers |
, it used the newly developed R7 astromech | R7-series Astromech DroidDroid |
droid and was an attempt to recapture the success of the X-wing | T-65 X-WingStarshipStarfighter Models |
/R2 | R2-series Astromech DroidDroid |
interfacing system. The E-Wing had a length of 11.2 meters and a maximum atmospheric speed of 1300 kmh.The initial tests proved E-wing's solid design and it performed well according to its pilots, with one exception - the weapons systems needed some work. The design used cheap synthetically spin-coiled Tibanna gas, while most companies used natural spin-sealing methods. Unfortunately, when exposed to the residual engine emissions, the gas’s spiral structure often broke down, dramatically decreasing weapon range. Replacing the artificially coiled gas with the natural one usually took weeks and the New Republic could not always afford it. Sometimes techs jury-rigged the weapons by tripling the power intake - it was a risky solution, but the alternative was to ground all E-wings while a proper upgrade was carried out. The models with such risky upgrade were dubbed the Type B to distinguish them.Despite the initial problems, improved models of the E-wing would eventually see wide-spread use by the New Republic, particularly by the Fifth Fleet, and later by the Galactic Alliance. E-wings would go on to play a significant role in every engagement from the Black Fleet Crisis, through the Yuuzhan Vong War, and beyond. By the time of the Second Galactic Civil War, the E-wing had matured into an excellent starfighter design and equipped several elite squadrons of the Galactic Alliance. However, despite being a more advanced design, the E-wing never achieved the same popularity as the famous X-wing series.Read more... |
See also |
Star Wars : Dark Empire(GRAPHIC NOVEL)
