List of Star Wars air, aquatic, and ground vehicles
The following is a list of fictional Star Wars terrestrial vehicles, including armored fighting vehicles, military aircraft, and naval ships.
The Star Wars universe showcases a diversity of vehicle types, many of which utilize fictitious technology. One of these, the repulsorlift, is an anti-gravity device that pushes against a planet's gravity to create lift. Vehicles which use repulsorlifts to hover and fly are known as 'repulsorcraft' or 'speeders' with further classifications including airspeeders, landspeeders, [|snowspeeders] and speeder bikes. Traditional methods of locomotion like wheels and tracked treads still see use however as they are typically more durable and require less energy to operate. Walkers are a special type of ground vehicle which propel themselves on mechanical legs and are used as armored cavalry on the battlefield.
Vehicles appearing in the Original Trilogy
All Terrain Armored Transport (AT-AT)
The All Terrain Armored Transport, or walker, is a quadruped mechanized infantry combat vehicle used by the Imperial ground forces. Standing over tall with blast-impervious armor plating, these massive constructs are used as much for psychological effect as they are for tactical advantage.The AT-AT was first introduced in The Empire Strikes Back and also appears in Return of the Jedi and in Rogue One. The also appears in a destroyed form in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, explained in the video game Star Wars Battlefront to be a residue of the Battle of Jakku, which was the Empire's last defeat and resulted in its dissolution. [|Modified forms] appear in The Last Jedi.
All Terrain Scout Transport (AT-ST)
The All Terrain Scout Transport is a two-legged mech walker introduced briefly in The Empire Strikes Back and featured extensively in Return of the Jedi. These vehicles were designed to screen and protect the flanks of slower moving AT-ATs and the larger tanks used by the Empire. Due to their design and movement, they are often dubbed as a "chicken walker". The name Scout Walker is also used to refer to an. This name was used for the official toy instead of the name.An AT-ST also appears briefly in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, patrolling Jedha City following an attack by Saw Gerrera's forces. A modified AT-ST later appears in The Mandalorian under the possession of a group of raiders, as the Empire has ceased to exist by the time of the series. An updated model of the AT-ST is used by the First Order in The Last Jedi. Shortly before the film's climax, an AT-ST is commandeered by BB-8.
Cloud car
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 a red-orange color with each cockpit arranged in a "shoe-shape" with the glass being on the "tongue" of the cockpit. Like the rest of Cloud City, cloud cars were designed to reflect a more refined art deco style. The scale models originally created for the movies were made of plastic parts using the then-new method of vacuum forming. Cloud cars inserted into the films' Special Edition releases were computer-generated.Within the Star Wars universe, these cloud cars were built by Bespin Motors specifically as atmospheric patrol craft. The unusual vehicles consist of two separate pods connected together, one for a pilot and the other for a gunner. It can achieve low orbit and attain speeds of thanks to a combination of repulsorlift drive and ion engine. Each pod is armed with a light blaster cannon and protected with armor plating and an armored canopy. While normally the port-side pod houses the pilot and starboard-side houses the gunner, both pods contain all the equipment necessary to fulfill either role in the event one is damaged.
Desert Skiff
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. It was modified to be a nautical-type vehicle, and then transitioned to become more utilitarian. 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.Skiffs are a common mode of transport on many Star Wars worlds as per in-universe sources, utilizing repulsorlift technology to move cargo and passengers on the cheap. The Bantha-II cargo skiffs seen in Return of the Jedi are also a favorite of various criminal organizations, which use them for raids and prisoner exchanges. Built by Ubrikkian Industries, they are long, with an armored bow to withstand head-on collisions, and can reach speeds of.
Jabba's Sail Barge (''Khetanna'')
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. Joe Johnston continued working on the design after McQuarrie stepped away from the project. A full-scale sail barge set was erected in Yuma, Arizona; it was one of the largest Star Wars sets created. Measuring 150 feet long, 130 feet wide and 65 feet high, the sail barge set was supported by 130 wooden posts, each 27 feet high, which were deeply embedded into the ground. Underneath the barge were several offices and a commissary which could feed 150 people. In order to get to the set, a two-mile road made of compacted sand was built, requiring roughly 80,000 gallons of water to construct.According to Star Wars references, Jabba's sail barge is named the Khetanna and was built by Ubrikkian Industries as a pleasure barge for the crime lord. At long, it is powered by a repulsorlift engine to reach a maximum speed of but can also use its two sails to slowly travel by air power. While designed purely as a pleasure barge, the Khetanna is fitted with a laser cannon turret and heavy blasters can be mounted on the railings.
Landspeeder
Landspeeders are antigravity vehicles that appear throughout the films and Expanded Universe in both civilian and military roles. They appear in Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope.Sandcrawler
and R2-D2 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. For shots involving the vehicle's movement, ILM used a 125-centimeter radio-controlled model. A computer-generated sandcrawler briefly appears in The Phantom Menace, and a sandcrawler also appears in Attack of the Clones. Sandcrawler-related merchandise include a Lego model, card game items, and Hasbro and Micro Machines toys.Skyhopper
An Incom Corporation T-16 skyhopper appears in the background of the Lars residence in A New Hope, and Luke Skywalker 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.In Star Wars: Rebel Assault, skyhoppers are used by Rebel pilots to train in Tatooine's Beggar's canyon.
Snowspeeder (T-47 Airspeeder)
A T-47 airspeeder, better known as "snowspeeder", is a Rebel Alliance vehicle featured in The Empire Strikes Back and several books, comics, and video games in the Star Wars Expanded Universe and also in Atari game cartridges in the 80's. Snowspeeder models and replicas have been merchandised by several companies.;Origin and design
During production of The Empire Strikes Back, designer Joe Johnston conceived a ship that combined the body of an X-wing and the cockpit of the Y-wing. However, this design was scrapped for the T-47, which featured no elements from previous craft. Johnston's designs for the Snowspeeders have influenced later Star Wars designers, such as Tommy Lee Edwards.
The models were built in three different scales by Steve Gawley, Charlie Bailey, and Mike Fulmer of ILM, with the smallest used for motion control photography, and the largest for hero and pyrotechnic shots. All models included motor-controlled flaps to imply maneuverability, and the largest version also possessed motor-articulated crew Several full-scale props were built in London for the hangar, cockpit, and speeder crash scenes.
;Depiction
According to background sources, the Rebel Alliance received a small squadron of modified T-47 airspeeders – aircraft which utilize repulsorlifts to achieve flight – shortly after establishing Echo Base on Hoth. These civilian speeders, originally meant for retrieving and hauling cargo sleds with their tow cables, were converted for military use by bolting on a pair of laser cannons with accompanying power converters and laser generator system. Additional armor plating was also added on to increase protection; this armor was originally carried by Y-wing starfighters but removed by Rebel technicians to ease maintenance. These modifications made the T-47 a highly maneuverable short-range attack craft which uses its speed and agility to avoid being hit. However, the intense environment of Hoth initially proved too hostile to these T-47s as the cold temperatures would cause their power generators to lock up. Only after Rebel mechanics modified the heat radiator fins at the back of the ships to make them less efficient was this problem resolved and they become more commonly known as snowspeeders.
In The Empire Strikes Back, Rogue Squadron, led by Commander Luke Skywalker, pilots snowspeeders against Imperial AT-AT walkers during the Battle of Hoth. However, when the snowspeeders' weaponry proves incapable of piercing the assault walkers' thick armoring, Luke devises the unconventional strategy of using their tow cables to entangle the AT-ATs. Although Luke's gunner, Dak Ralter, is killed before he can try the maneuver himself, Wedge Antilles and Wes Janson succeed in tripping up an AT-AT with their snowspeeder and destroying it with a well-placed shot to its neck. While ultimately the Rebels lose the Battle of Hoth, the snowspeeder earns an honored place in the history books for the role it played.
;Merchandise
Kenner released a toy snowspeeder in 1980. Kenner re-released an updated version utilizing the same mold in 1995 for their new 'Power of the Force' line. After Hasbro shut down the Kenner offices in 1999, it was released several times under Hasbro's brand name: in 2001 as a Wal-Mart exclusive in the "Power of the Jedi" collection, in 2006 as a Target exclusive in the "Saga Collection" line, and three versions of it in the 2010 "The Vintage Collection", including a Target exclusive packaged as the original 1980 Kenner version.
LEGO has also sold snowspeeder models, and Snowspeeder models used in The Empire Strikes Back have been sold online.
Hasbro's Star Wars Transformers line included a Snowspeeder that transformed into Luke Skywalker.
In 2009, Japanese model manufacturer Fine Molds released a 1/48 scale kit of the Snowspeeder.