The following is a list of fictional Star Wars ground vehicles, including tanks, landspeeders, and assault units.
The AAT is a Trade Federation vehicle that appears in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, and the Star Wars Expanded Universe, and The Clone Wars. Early drafts of The Phantom Menace described the Trade Federation's invasion of Naboo being led by "armored attack craft" that resembled helicopters.[1] The final version's forward curve is based on the curve of a shovel, and parts of it are intended to suggest animalistic traits.[1] LEGO released an AAT model in 2001.[2]
The BARC speeder appears in Revenge of the Sith and is a playable vehicle in Star Wars: Battlefront, Battlefront II and Star Wars Galaxies. They perform cavalry, scouting and mounted infantry roles and are armed with a single, or sometimes two, blasters. Inexpensive, lightweight, easy to maintain and able to fill various functions, they are a widespread mainstay of many armed organisations, governments and major armed forces.
The Gungan "bongo" submarine is a transport in The Phantom Menace. Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor), Qui-Gon Jinn (Liam Neeson), and Jar Jar Binks (Ahmed Best) use a bongo to travel from the underwater city of Otah Gunga to the Naboo capital of Theed.
Industrial Light & Magic's Doug Chiang devised the submarine's squid-like propeller design.[3] This assembly was then merged with the design for a manta-shaped underwater transport written out of an earlier draft of the story.[3] This design replaced earlier concepts that depicted the Gungan vessel as an organic-looking diving bell.[3]
The turbo tank is a ten-wheeled battle tank and armored personnel carrier that appears in Revenge of the Sith and is based on designs done by Joe Johnston for use in Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back.[4] West End Games based their "HAVw A5 Juggernaut" design on Johnson's sketches. The larger, more heavily-armed vehicle that appears in Revenge of the Sith is labeled "HAVw A6".[4]
Cloud cars fly around Bespin's Cloud City in The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. Compositing the cloud cars into the original releases required multiple motion control passes to prevent the vehicles from standing out too distinctly from their cloudy background. Cloud cars were designed to have two cockpits that were interconnected with a small compartment block. It was often an red-orange color with each cockpit arranged in a "shoe-shape" with the glass being on the "tongue" of the cockpit.[5] Cloud cars inserted into the films' Special Edition releases were computer-generated.[5]
Corporate Alliance tank droids appear in Revenge of the Sith and are playable vehicles in Battlefront II. This "snail droid" was originally designed for Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones for the climatic Battle of Geonosis, but they did not make it into the final cut of the film.[6] They are a large, amphibious heavily armored droid, mainly used for amphibibous assaults, troop transport, and as a main battle tank on worlds with rough terrain. They can be fitted with nearly any type of armament from heavy laser cannons, to blaster cannons, and even guided missiles to perform almost any combat function. When given voice modulators, they are put to use policing potenially rebellious worlds owned by the Corporate Alliance as well as to crush civilian insurrections.
Droid gunships appear at the Battle of Kashyyyk in Revenge of the Sith and Star Wars: Battlefront II. Their circular shape is designed to be reminiscent of the Trade Federation ships seen in The Phantom Menace.[7] These ships were originally intended to appear in the movie's opening space battle, but were ultimately depicted as aircraft.[7]
The Confederacy of Independent Systems uses dwarf spider droids in Attack of the Clones. These Spider Droids were designed to provide more agile artillery in the battlefield. Like the larger Confederate spider droid it has four legs, but this droid seems to have two optical receptors. Both the "eyes" and the main turret are red and glowing with the laser pulses that go through them. Hasbro released a spider droid figure in 2003.[8]
The Naboo Royal Security Forces use Flash speeders in The Phantom Menace.
The Naboo Royal Security Forces use Gian speeders in The Phantom Menace. They are larger, heavier counterparts to the NRSF Flash Speeders, and are used mainly for skirmishes against pirates and smugglers. However, they are still modified civilian landspeeeders, and prove relatively useless against Trade Federation tanks. They are painted purple, carry one medium blaster cannon, and have seating for four NRSF officers. They also have light armour plating for protection against hand-held blasters, but there is little protection for the vehicles occupants.
Hailfire droids are mobile missile platforms that appear in Attack of the Clones. They consisted of two large wheels with a low-fixed base that had two glowing red optical receptors and two large missile boxes to store its large arsenal of heat-seeking missiles, which glowed purple as they traveled through the air. It was large and towered over many infantry units in battle. Its main chassis was rounded and brown, while the wheels had ridges and were a gray shade.
The OG-9 homing spider droid appears in Attack of the Clones and is a playable vehicle in Battlefront II. During post-production, the droid was referred to as "Commerce Guild droid B."[9]
Landspeeders are antigravity vehicles that appear throughout the films and Expanded Universe in both civilian and military roles.They appear in episode four, A New Hope.
MTTs carry and deploy Trade Federation battle droids on Naboo in The Phantom Menace. As with the AAT, parts of the MTT are intended to suggest animalistic traits.[1][10] Lucas requested the MTT have locomotive-type qualities and be capable of knocking down everything in its path; consequently, the MTT has battering rams and locomotive components.[10]
Podracers are high-speed one-man race craft. Anakin Skywalker (Jake Lloyd) enters and wins a podrace in The Phantom Menace. It consists of forward turbines attached loosely to the cockpit by a series of cables with the turbines attached to each other by an ion beam. It was frequently gambled upon and was considered by many, including Qui-Gon Jinn, to be a dangerous sport. The video games Star Wars Episode I: Racer and Star Wars: Racer Arcade are based on Phantom Menace's podracing scenes.
The Republic assault gunboat appears in Revenge of the Sith. The vehicle went through several changes over the course of its development: it was originally a Confederacy capital ship, then became the "Good Guy A" support ship for the Republic.[11] It became a Confederacy ship once more before being scaled down, turned into a speeder, and becoming a Republic craft.[11]
Republic attack gunships, also known as low-altitude assault transports (LAATs) appear in Attack of the Clones, Revenge of the Sith, and Star Wars: Republic Commando, ferrying clone troopers and Jedi during battle. The Expanded Universe describes several LAAT varieties: the LAAT/i infantry transport, the LAAT/c cargo carrier, and a heavy LAAT that carries AT-TEs.[12][13] Lucas turned to footage of helicopter-troop deployment when conceiving the LAAT; the vehicle was originally labeled the "Jedi attack helicopter".[14] The vehicle's ultimate appearance is based on the Russian Mil Mi-24 helicopter.[14] The craft's engine sounds are the modified sound of a Vickers Vimy, a WWI bomber. Both Hasbro and Lego released LAAT models in 2002; Lego released another LAAT in 2008.[15][16] Code 3 Collectibles released a die-cast gunship two years later.[17]
A sail barge delivers Jabba the Hutt and his entourage to the sarlacc pit in Return of the Jedi. Illustrator Ralph McQuarrie designed the ship to appear more utilitarian in comparison to early designs, which made the ship reminiscent of a Baroque sea craft.[18] A 30,000-square-foot (2,800 m2), 60-foot (18 m)-tall full-scale sail barge set was erected in Yuma, Arizona; it was one of the largest Star Wars sets created.[18]
C-3PO (Anthony Daniels) and R2-D2 (Kenny Baker) are briefly held in a Jawa sandcrawler in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. Shots of the sandcrawler at a distance were actually a matte painting; only two of its treads and a 27-meter-long piece of its lower structure were actually built.[19] For shots involving the vehicle's movement, ILM used a 125-centimeter radio-controlled model.[19] A computer-generated sandcrawler briefly appears in The Phantom Menace,[19] and a sandcrawler also appears in Attack of the Clones. Sandcrawler-related merchandise include a Lego model,[20] card game items,[21][22] and Hasbro and Micro Machines toys.[23][24]
Self-propelled heavy artillery first appear in Attack of the Clones. The vehicle was initially design on treads, but Lucas suggested that it be equipped with legs like the AT-TEs that fight alongside it.[25] The SPHA was referred to as "Clone Tank A" during production.[25]
STAPs, which appear in The Phantom Menace, are designed to appear reminiscent of the speeder bikes seen in Return of the Jedi.[26] The STAP's design also relates back to Lucas' 1973 idea of ridable "jet-sticks"; a draft of The Phantom Menace refers to the vehicles as STAPS, or Single Troop Armed Pogo Sticks.[26] They were brown with one vertical stem and a horizontal foot stand and a higher horizontal handlebar. It had two twin engines directly underneath the handlebars with one on either side of the vertical stem. The STAP's allowed single droids to travel ahead and scout out the battlefield.
A pair of skiffs travel with Jabba's sail barge in Return of the Jedi. The skiff was originally conceived as a flying animal carrying strapped-on passenger modules.[27] It was modified to be a nautical-type vehicle, and then transitioned to become more utilitarian.[27] A full-size skiff was built alongside the sail barge in Yuma. An 81-centimeter miniature was also built, and it was "crewed" by poseable puppets.[27]
A skyhopper appears in the background of the Lars residence in A New Hope, and Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) races a skyhopper in National Public Radio's radio adaptation of that movie; a skyhopper also appears at the end of the Special Edition release of Return of the Jedi. The skyhopper model that Skywalker handles in A New Hope is the concept model Colin Cantwell built; budget limitations allowed only a partial full-size mock-up of the craft to be built.[28]
Rebel pilots fly snowspeeders against the Galactic Empire's walkers in The Empire Strikes Back.
Speeder bikes first appear in a chase scene in Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, and later in the prequel trilogy.
Swamp speeders appear in Revenge of the Sith. TJ Frame, who worked on the swamp speeder concept soon after joining the art department, initially designed the craft to be appear reminiscent of fanboats.[29]
Swoop bikes are high-speed racing craft that appear in the films and Expanded Universe.They appear in episodes two and maybe four
The swoop racer is similar to the swoop bike, however, it was specifically designed for racing with. During a swoop race, the racers do not race together on the same track, but separately. Each racer gets timed individually and the times are compared after the event to determine the winner. The fatest time is the winner. The first appearance of the swoop racer was in the 2003 video game Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic.
An airspeeder that first saw service with the New Republic at the Battle of Mon Calamari.
General Grievous rides a wheel bike in Revenge of the Sith. Grievous' vehicle is similar to another wheel bike that appears in the Star Wars: Droids cartoon.[30] One concept for Grievous' vehicle was for it to include "tank-like chariots"; at another point, the vehicle was going to be another droid.[30]
Wookiee flying catamarans appear in Revenge of the Sith. They were originally conceived as strictly water vehicles.[31] The addition of a rotor came late in production; some printed works do not depict this component.[31]
Wookiee ornithopters appear in Revenge of the Sith. The craft was originally known as the "dragonfly helicopter".[32] Although mostly depicted through computer-generated imagery, a full-size mockup of the gunner's seat was created for a closeup of the tail gunner.[32]
World Devastators appear in the Dark Empire comic series and the Star Wars: Rogue Squadron video game.
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