AT-AT
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| Star Wars craft | |
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| AT-AT | |
|---|---|
| Manufacturer | Kuat Drive Yards |
| Specification | All Terrain Armored Transport |
| Type | Armored combat walker |
| Length | 30+ meters |
| Weapons | 2 chin-mounted heavy laser cannons 2 cheek-mounted medium blaster cannons (1 on each side) |
| Shield | None |
| Hull | Blast-impervious armor plating |
| Crew | 1 commander, 1 pilot, 1 gunner |
| Top Speed | 60 km/h (37 mph) |
| Troop Capacity | Up to 40 troops |
| Affiliation | Galactic Republic, Galactic Empire |
| Cargo Capacity | Five speeder bikes or two partially-disassembled AT-ST walkers |
| Passengers | Up to 40 troops |
The All Terrain Armored Transport (AT-AT), also called the Imperial Walker, was a major part of the Galactic Empire's army in the fictional Star Wars universe. They were assembled by Kuat Drive Yards, and evolved from the previous built AT-TE Walkers and A5 Juggernaut, made for the Clone Wars.
AT-ATs are "walking" armored personnel carriers; large, four-footed machines resembling mechanical camels. Some literature describes the AT-AT at 15.5 meters tall, but onscreen measuring places them closer to 25 or even 30 meters or possibly even taller than that, for the AT-AT seems much taller than 40 meters to the public. Their primary purpose was transportation of combat units across the battlefield. It could carry either 40 Imperial Stormtroopers and five speeder bikes or two AT-ST units (partially disassembled due to height issues). Snowtroopers under combat conditions could be deployed via rappeling cable, but the heavier ordnance could only exit upon the slow and comparatively awkward process of the AT-AT kneeling and extending its ramps.
The arsenal of the AT-AT was also devastating, as they possessed two chin-mounted heavy laser cannons to destroy slow, bulky targets and two temple-mounted medium blaster cannons which could engage lighter targets. However, the AT-AT lacked any rear or top mounted weapons, leaving it with significant blind spots (particularly anti-air defence), although it countered this with strong protection that would deflect such potential attacks. The armor plating was extremely resistant to blaster fire, and the sturdy legs could walk over — and thereby crush — people and equipment. The tall legs could be used to cross difficult terrain, such as rivers, mountains and even swamps with reasonable ease and great protection.
AT-ATs could be configured to operate in varied planetary environments, known as the dunewalker when configured for desert terrain, or the familiar snow-walker for icy planets such as Hoth. An aquatic version, known as the AT-AT swimmer, also existed; the legs were traded for repulsorlifts, allowing the transport to function as a hovercraft.
At the Battle of Hoth in Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, the Empire used walkers to land beyond the limits of the Rebel Alliance's shield. General Maximillian Veers commanded the ground forces and advanced on the shield generator. Faced with such forces, Luke Skywalker devised a strategy to disable the walkers: his team of snowspeeders would use their magnetic harpoons and tow cables to entangle the walkers' feet, causing them to trip and fall, exploiting their high centre of gravity. Wedge Antilles and his gunner Wes Janson managed to disable one walker this way. It was then finished off with a Snowspeeder blaster shot to its vulnerable area just behind the neck. Luke destroyed a second by using his lightsaber to open a small hatch under the machine and tossing in a thermal detonator. When the Imperial walkers were destroyed, the entire crew and troop complements were killed. In the Empire Strikes Back novelization, a third AT-AT was lost when it mortally damaged but did not destroy Hobbie's speeder; the Rebel pilot suicidally steered his doomed craft into the command pod of an AT-AT. Luke also mentions Dash Rendar destroying a walker during the battle in the book "Shadows of the Empire".
AT-ATs later patrolled the garrison base on the Forest Moon of Endor, although they apparently did not take part in the battle against the Ewoks and Rebels. Luke Skywalker, after his surrender on Endor, was transported in one of these AT-ATs to meet Darth Vader at a landing pad.
AT-AT pilots are specially trained soldiers from the Imperial Army. They wear white armor similar to that of TIE pilots.
It may be possible that the AT-ATs at the Battle of Hoth had better armor than the normal AT-AT, as evidenced by the apparent surprise by the rebels that their blasters were useless against them. Another possibility was that the Rebels had little experience facing AT-AT's and most of their anti-vehicle artillery batteries at Hoth were outdated even against weaker vehicles. The canonical Star Wars Customizable Card Game, for example, grants substantially greater power and armor values to units under General Veers' command as well as unique names (Blizzard One, Blizzard Two, etc). However, many Star Wars-themed video games such as Star Wars: Battlefront and Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire allow the player to destroy walkers with blasters, albeit with great difficulty. That difficulty may be the key point, as, in the movie, the Rogues gave up on their blaster cannons very quickly and the ground forces seemingly failed to accomplish much before being defeated.
The AT-ATs deployed on Hoth were moving much slower than top speed, 60 km/h (37 mph). Possible reason for this were for extra armor and/or equipment, or because there was insufficient information as to the extent of the rebel base, which was underground and may have collapsed if a running AT-AT were to cross. Estimates on foot and step size put the estimated speed of the walkers deployed on Hoth at 9 km/h (6 mph). An AT-AT is an odd sight moving at its top speed and can be seen moving this quickly in the computer game Star Wars: Empire at War.
When controlled by excellent and skillful pilots (such as the pilots in General Veer's walker), an AT-AT is nearly invincible, even when the tow cable method is used against it. The walker can show surprising flexibility with good pilots, and when combined with its great firepower, it is anything but defenseless against snowspeeders, even though the AT-AT lacks any rear or top mounted weapons for anti-air defence. This can be seen in Episode V when a snowspeeder comes head on against General Veer's AT-AT. Without seeing any open shots, the speeder pilot veers to the right. Seeing this, the expert walker pilots perform a maneuver where it leans on and stretches its legs, and moves its head to the side. The walker's "cheek" cannons fired and destroyed the speeder, sending it spinning out of control, until it crashes in a fireball. The original version of the PC game Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds had snowspeeders immune to AT-AT fire, but the expansion pack later retracted this invulnerability.
[edit] AT-ATs in the Expanded Universe
The AT-AT mostly supplanted the older HAVw A5 Juggernaut as the choice for leading Imperial ground assaults.
The AT-AT, in the service of the Army of the Republic, first saw action in the Clone Wars during the Battle of Jabiim, although improvements to the AT-AT model were made over time, leading to a mission in the computer game Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds, in which Darth Vader and General Veers must release a prototype of a new type of AT-AT (the one shown in The Empire Strikes Back) to put down a Rebel uprising on Zaloriis.
Inside the Worlds of Star Wars Trilogy shows that AT-ATs and AT-STs were deployed from the Y-85 Titan Dropship.
Sometime after the Battle of Endor, the Empire's AT-ATs replaced their lasers and blasters with light turbolasers, easily capable of defeating many hardened defensive weapons emplacements, armor and structures.
Apparently, X-Wing lasers are much more powerful than the anti-vehicle artillery used in Echo Base, since in X-Wing: Isard's Revenge, Rogue Squadron takes advantage of the AT-AT's lack of anti-aircraft armament to wipe out four AT-ATs fairly rapidly using only their quad-linked laser cannons. When one of the Rogues quipped that the job would've been done much faster if they used their proton torpedoes, Wedge Antilles (Rogue One) replied that the proton torpedoes were saved for usage against any capital ships they might encounter on their infiltration.
An alternative explanation for the difficulty the Rebel forces had in destroying the AT-ATs on Hoth is because the walkers empoyed heavy reflective armor due to the importance of the mission, and regular AT-AT deployments would be more susceptible to damage from blaster or laser cannons.
One story in the Expanded Unverse tells of a rookie AT-AT Pilot who had his vehicle kneel to avoid a harpoon attack during a training exercise. Embarrassed by the then unknown flaw, the rookie was reassigned to a remote position where he could never tell of the discovery.
[edit] Trivia
- According to George Lucas, the AT-ATs were based on the tripod fighting machines from The War of the Worlds. He also took inspiration from elephants and loading cranes in West Oakland--hence the nickname "elephant walker."
- LEGO has made three versions of the AT-AT. One is a miniature version, another is a larger one with over 1000 pieces retailing at about $100, and the third was a LEGO Mindstorms set, incorporating a motor allowing it to walk.
[edit] External links
| Vehicles of the Galactic Empire | |
|---|---|
| Entries in italics denote vehicles from the Expanded Universe | |
| Ground vehicles | |
| AT-ST | AT-AT | AT-TE | 74-Z Speeder Bike | Juggernaut | AT-PT | TIE crawler | |
| Starfighters | |
| TIE Fighter | TIE Interceptor | TIE Bomber | TIE Advanced x1 | TIE Avenger | TIE Defender | TIE/D fighter
TIE Hunter | TIE Phantom | Assault Gunboat | Missile Boat | Skipray Blastboat | A-9 Vigilance |
|
| Capital ships | |
| Star Destroyer | Super Star Destroyer | Executor | Nebulon-B Frigate | Corellian Corvette
Lancer-Class Frigate | Interdictor Cruiser | Carrack-Class Light Cruiser |
|
| Other | |
| Lambda-class shuttle | Death Star | Walker Dropship | World Devastator | Sun Crusher | |
| See also | |
| Star Wars air vehicles | Star Wars aquatic vehicles | Star Wars ground vehicles | Star Wars starfighters | Star Wars support craft |
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