Wookieepedia
    Explore
    Trending
    New and upcoming
    The Mandalorian and Grogu
    Maul - Shadow Lord
    The High Republic Adventures - Pathfinders
    Star Wars Outlaws: Low Red Moon
    Star Wars
    Skywalker saga
    Standalone films
    Live-action series
    Animated series
    Games
    Literature
    Navigation
    Articles
    Timelines
    Community
    About Wookieepedia
    Forums
    WookieeProjects
    Contact
    Editing 

    Missile

    Sign In to Save
    This article covers the Canon version of this subject.   Click here for Wookieepedia's article on the Legends version of this subject.  
    OnACanonArticle
    GoToLegends
    "Missiles. Pull up!"
    "They overshot us."
    ―Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi, during the Battle of Coruscant[1]
    Missiles-SWGoH
    A trio of missiles

    A missile, sometimes called a rocket, was an explosive projectile that was fired from some type of missile launcher. Missiles were used in both space combat and ground warfare. Missile launchers were equipped on vehicles and starships such as the droid gunship[2] and the Republic Attack Gunship.[3] They were also used by battle droids, clone troopers,[4] and Mandalorian warriors.[5] Examples of missiles include proton torpedoes, concussion missiles, and discord missiles.[6]

    Missile weapons were considered a complement to blasters and other energy weapons because of their unique characteristics. Missiles were capable of homing in on a target, even moving around intervening obstacles in order to hit it. Thanks to the use of acceleration compensators and tensor fields, missiles could withstand turning accelerations of up to 10,000 G, such as when making a 90-degree turn within a turning radius of one meter. When fired from a planetary surface they could hit a target that was hidden by the horizon. Missiles could also follow a preprogrammed trajectory or receive targeting updates via encrypted guidance signals, transmitted by either forward observers or orbiting craft.[7]

    However, missiles were much easier to dodge than blasters and were vulnerable to being shot down.[7] Some missiles took deliberately evasive flight paths or otherwise used their agility to avoid being shot down.[8][9] Missiles were also vulnerable to a number of electronic countermeasures such as sensor jammers, seeker warheads, chaff, and Sensor Inverters.[10]

    Missiles could be fitted with a variety of different warheads, such as proton, EMP, antimatter, or hard radiation, depending on the needs of the mission. Missile warheads could have variable yields, and the resulting explosion could be omnidirectional or focused in a particular direction. The missiles used by Republic attack gunships, for example, concentrated their explosion in a two-degree cone.[7]

    Rocket Launch SWB
    A missile being fired from a missile launcher

    Missiles came in a variety of sizes with corresponding differences in their destructive potential. A B-wing could carry missiles powerful enough that their shock waves would knock whole groups of starfighters out of the sky if used in an atmosphere.[11] Capital ship-scale missiles like those carried by Imperial-class Star Destroyers could cause explosions big enough to boil lakes or collapse mountain-sized factories,[12] while proton torpedoes like those carried on Acclamator-class assault ships were used in Base Delta Zero bombardments which could melt the upper crust of a planet.[7] In the Battle of Umbara, the Umbaran Militia utilized long-range missiles with 100-megaton warheads (supplied by the Separatists) to defend their capital from the Grand Army of the Republic.[13]


    Appearances


    Sources


    Notes and references

    1. ↑ Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith
    2. ↑ StarWars-DatabankII  Droid Gunship in the Databank (backup link)
    3. ↑ StarWars-DatabankII  Republic Attack Gunship in the Databank (backup link)
    4. ↑ StarWars  "Ambush" Episode Gallery on StarWars.com (backup link) (Slide 9)
    5. ↑ StarWars  "The Mandalore Plot" Episode Gallery on StarWars.com (backup link) (Slides 9 and 15)
    6. ↑ Star Wars: The Visual Encyclopedia
    7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 Star Wars Complete Vehicles, New Edition
    8. ↑ Star Wars: The Complete Visual Dictionary, New Edition
    9. ↑ Star Wars: Complete Locations
    10. ↑ Star Wars: Squadrons
    11. ↑ Alphabet Squadron
    12. ↑ Shadow Fall: An Alphabet Squadron Novel
    13. ↑ StarWars  "Plan of Dissent" Episode Guide | The Clone Wars on StarWars.com (backup link)

    More Information

    More Fandoms
    Community content is available under CC-BY-SA unless otherwise noted.

    To improve your ad experience, create an account.
    Join Wookieepedia today!

    READ MORE