Death trooper

Death troopers were an elite variant of the Galactic Empire's stormtroopers that were a part of the Empire's Imperial Intelligence who served as protective details and bodyguards for important Imperial officers. They also acted as guards for officers in the Tarkin Initiative. They wore black suits of armor. Death troopers were trained in unarmed combat, heavy weapons, and sniping. As they specialized in commando missions, the troopers were experts at covering their tracks, leaving little evidence of their missions.

A squad of death troopers served under Director Orson Krennic's command, wielded as his personal protection since at least 13 BBY. Grand Admiral Thrawn also had a squadron of the death troopers under his command during his campaign against the rebellion. They were sometimes assigned to protect other high ranking personnel and were also present for the Battle of Scarif at the beginning of the Galactic Civil War. Death troopers were known to wield SE-14r light repeating blasters, E-11Ds, long-range blaster rifles similar to the DLT-19 heavy blaster rifle, and C-25 fragmentation grenades.

Death troopers were named after a legendary Advanced Weapons Research project to revive necrotic tissue, which resulted in the creation of uncontrollable Undead Troopers.

Age of the Empire
In 13 BBY, a squad of death troopers accompanied Director Krennic to Lah'mu. There, they took Galen Erso to complete his work on the Death Star. One of the death troopers killed Erso's wife, Lyra and the squad attempted to find his daughter Jyn Erso to no avail.

During the early rebellion, a squad was under the command of the Seventh Fleet's commander, Grand Admiral Thrawn in his campaign against the rebels' cells near Lothal.

Galactic Civil War
Death troopers continued to accompany Krennic during the Death Star's initial testing stage at Jedha.

Behind the scenes
The first footage of the death trooper was shown in the Rogue One: A Star Wars Story teaser trailer on April 7, 2016. According to the Us Magazine Collector's Edition - Star Wars Rogue One article Going Rogue, the death troopers were comparable to the United States Navy SEALs.

Appearances

 * Star Wars Rebels Season Three
 * Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
 * Rogue One: A Star Wars Story novel
 * Star Wars Battlefront
 * Poe Dameron 8: The Gathering Storm, Part I