A280 blaster rifle/Legends

The A280 was a blaster rifle produced by BlasTech Industries, and was considered to be one of the best armor-piercing blasters produced during the Galactic Civil War.



Though much heavier than Imperial-issue rifles such as the E-11, the A280 was a sturdy weapon and was reputed to be able to cut a fully-armored stormtrooper in half at medium range. This weapon, along with its predecessor, the DLT-20A, were marketed as Longblasters. The A280 was different from the DLT-20A in that its galven circuits were clustered near the focusing crystal, giving the weapon a slight bulge at the midsection. This also provided the A280 with more power over a longer range.

Several of these rifles were stolen by Janse for the Alliance to Restore the Republic when he left BlasTech shortly before the Battle of Endor. The Alliance had already been using these weapons prior to this battle; Rebel soldiers wielded them during the Battle of Hoth in 3 ABY.

Behind the scenes
The depiction of the A280 has varied over different sources. The image used in this article is that from Star Wars: The Complete Visual Dictionary, and matches the A295 blaster in overall appearance. Another version was depicted in the Endor Limited expansion of the Star Wars Customizable Card Game, and yet another in its original appearance in the Rebel Alliance Sourcebook.



The BlasTech A280 blaster rifle prop was built from a World War II-era German StG44 Sturmgewehr rifle with a number of A280s being built around the StG44 in The Empire Strikes Back. The M16/ AR-15 series rifles have also been used as the basis of the A280 with a number of A280s in Return of the Jedi being built from M16/AR-15 rifle parts.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: Battlefront
 * Star Wars: Battlefront II
 * Star Wars: Empire at War
 * Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
 * Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
 * First Contact
 * The Last Command