T-65 X-wing starfighter

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The T-65AC1 X-wing
Image:Xw1.jpg
Manufacturer	Incom Corporation
Model	T-65AC1 X-wing Space Superiority Fighter
Class	Starfighter
Length	12.5 meters
Mass	Unknown
Max Acceleration	3700 G
Max Speed	1050 km/h
Hyperdrive	Class 1
Crew	Pilot (1), Astromech (1)
Passengers	None
Armament	4 laser cannons 10 proton torpedoes
Affiliation	Rebel Alliance, Alliance of Free Planets, New Republic, Galactic Alliance

The Incom T-65 X-wing starfighter was the main all-purpose craft of the Rebel Alliance. During the Battle of Yavin, the X-wing was the craft that Luke Skywalker used to destroy the Galactic Empire's first Death Star.

Details

The X-wing was reasonably maneuverable and carried four Taim & Bak KX9 laser cannons, along with tubes for proton torpedoes. Other warheads such as concussion missiles could be fired from the launchers, but this required a considerable amount of time and effort on the part of the technical crews, and the overall versatility of the proton torpedo was ideally suited to the X-wing's varied mission profile.

Hyperspace capable, X-wings had pairs of wing-like strike foils, or S-foils, mounted at the rear of the craft; normally the foils on each side were locked flush against each other, but during combat the foils were folded out to increase the spread coverage of the laser cannons mounted at the tips of the foils. This gave the craft its distinctive "X"-like appearance when viewed from the front or rear. The cannons on some earlier models could not be fired with the S-foils in locked position.

The X-wing's lasers had various settings:

Single fire, where each laser fired individually;
Dual fire, where two lasers, one on each side, paired up and the pairs fired alternately; or
Quad fire, where all four lasers (one at each foil-tip) fired together, converging on the target.
Scatter fire, where many underpowered beams were fired out. These were utilized in the invasion of the Yuuzhan Vong to overwhelm the singularity defences.

The fighter had cockpit space for one pilot, assisted by a droid (such as an R2 unit) in an external socket which monitored the status of the craft and could make emergency repairs.

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History

Image:Xw3.jpg

X-wing fighters during the Battle of Yavin

The X-wing was originally designed by Incom Corporation for the Empire, but the entire engineering team defected to the Rebel Alliance with the prototypes. It was directly descended from the old Z-95 Headhunter, built by Incom and Subpro, with lessons learned from the ARC-170 starfighter. It first encountered Imperial forces in the Battle of Turkana.

The X-wing was continually updated throughout its design lifetime. The original T-65AC1 fielded by the Rebel Alliance was a competent strike fighter for its time, but was soon supplanted by the T-65AC2, boasting improved acceleration. The T-65AC3 improved the avionics, shields and sensors; the T-65AC4 was primarily another engine upgrade, which made it nearly the equal of the A-wing. One notable design, the T-65D-A1, replaced the astromech droid with an internal computer core for hyperdrive jump calculations but was considered a failure (partially due to ease of sabotage).

Shortly before the Yuuzhan Vong invasion, the New Republic fielded the J-series of X-wing. A third torpedo bay was added where previously a cargo bay was fitted; this increased the proton torpedo load out to nine. Engines, lasers and avionics were also improved. The "XJ" was greatly improved in all respects over the earlier designs and was initially issued to starfighter squadrons with Jedi pilots. Three variants were developed, culminating with the T-65J3: the ultimate evolution of the X-wing. Many older X-wings were rebuilt into the T-65BR reconnaissance variant.

Image:ReconXWing.jpg

A retrofitted X-wing for recon missions

It had been intended that the X-wing series would be replaced by the E-wing approximately six years after the Battle of Endor, but initial design issues relating to the weapons placement delayed wide-spread introduction into the New Republic military. Wide-scale deployment of the E-wing did occur (most notably in Fifth Fleet), but X-wing production continued on and may have equipped fighter squadrons not "at the tip of the spear." One notable exception was Rogue Squadron, the Republic's most elite fighter squadron, which was known for its almost exclusive use of the X-wing.

By the time of the Yuuzhan Vong invasion, the "J" series was in fleet service, supplementing the more advanced (and certainly more expensive) Series III E-wing. Some paramilitary groups were also equipped with earlier J-series fighters (probably the T-65J or the T-65J2); system-defense forces and poorer paramilitary groups may have had X-wings of varying age and capability.

By the time of the Killik/Chiss conflicts, two new variants of the X-wing were introduced. The first is the XJ5 series, also referred to as the ChaseX. These fighters were mainly used by the Galactic Reconstruction Police. The Jedi tended to use the XJ3 series, or the other new variant, the "StealthX." The StealthX is a covert strike craft, equipped with features that reduce its visibility both visually and to sensors, though it can be located if it is silhouetted or launches proton torpedoes. The StealthX is described as being smaller than the XJ model, which is already half a meter shorter than the T-65C. The StealthX may possibly have either a T-65K or T-65S designation, depending on the numbering scheme used.

There were two conflicting systems of identification for the X-wing. The basic designation "T-65" was constant, but the modifier was inconsistent. At least two systems were used. One of them uses the suffix "AC1" with the last number incrementing as the fighter is revised. A second system, in which a letter was appended to the end in increasing value (T-65B, T-65D, T-65J, etc.). These were usually thought of as different names for the same variations.

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