Scout troopers
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Scout troopers are a division of the Imperial stormtroopers in the fictional Star Wars saga, and made their first appearance in Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi.
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[edit] History
Imperial scout troopers (also called scout stormtroopers or biker scouts) are an elite group of stormtroopers trained to use high speed vehicles (normally speeder bikes) to scout and survey areas, locating enemy positions and on some occasions, infiltrate enemy lines to perform sabotage missions. Scouts operate in groups of four, called lancers and each is led by a sergeant. They often work in conjunction with other light reconnaissance vehicles, such as Imperial AT-STs.
Scout troopers made an appearance in Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith as the Grand Army of the Republic's BARC Troopers. These soldiers were used heavily at the Battle of Kashyyyk by the Republic near the end of the Clone Wars fighting the Separatist invasion force of the planet. Compared to the BARC Trooper, from which they evolved from, the scout trooper is less advanced.
Scout troopers were posted to the forest moon of Endor during the construction of the Second Death Star in orbit. The scouts were tasked with defending the surface-based shield generators, and regularly patrolled Endor's forests. However, the combined might of the Rebel Alliance and the native cunning of the Ewoks ensured the shield generator was destroyed, followed by the Death Star itself.
[edit] Appearance
Scout troopers wear lightweight armor that is considerably more flexible than the standard uniform worn by their infantry counterparts. Much like their counterparts though, the armor is colored white. Underneath, like all Imperial Stormtroopers, scouts wear a black body glove, however the version worn by Imperial Scouts is not form fitting and more like a flightsuit or jumpsuit, to aid in mobility. The undersuit also offers some protection to the unarmored sections of their bodies. Their helmets contain a macro binocular viewplate and a sensor system that allows them to see in a 180-degree arc, which is obviously of great use when traveling at high speeds on Imperial speeder bikes.
[edit] Weapons and equipment
Being scouts, these stormtroopers are lightly armed. They carry the standard hold-out blaster, which they carry in a boot-holster. They also carry flares and concussion grenades. Due to their light weapon loadouts, they rarely engage in heavy combat and instead focus more on surveying areas, finding enemy positions and on some occasions, infiltrating enemy lines and performing sabotage missions. For all other duties, the scouts are ordered to retreat in the face of the enemy and alert regular stormtroopers of the intrusion. However, the Imperial Scout trooper has been known to use laser sniper rifles for long range unit disruption in the video game Star Wars Battlefront.
[edit] Vehicles
Scouts rely on the Aratech 74-Z military speeder bike. These bikes are armed with a single blaster cannon and equipped with com-link jamming devices. With a top speed of 310 mph (500 km/h), speeders are amongst the fastest ground vehicles in the Imperial inventory.
