R-1 recon droid

The R-1 recon droid was a standard-issue reconnaissance droid used by Galactic Empire during the Galactic Civil War. It was built by Arakyd Industries and was based on design of the DRK-1 Dark Eye probe droid, originally created by the Sith. The R-1 was popular with snipers, planetary garrisons and shock troops. Some of them have also found a way into the hands of smugglers, bounty hunters and other independent operations.

Characteristics
A small floating droid, R-1 lacked any tools of hands, but could move through the openings that most of it's potential targets couldn't. It's internal blaster allowed it to track most prey with ease and ocassionly even take out foe by itself. It could be used to scout areas without risking a living observer, spot targets for long-tange sniper fire or starship bombardement, seek out wanted criminals or follow suspects back to base of operations.

The R-1 recon droid was equipped with an internal orbital strike beacon with a high-power transmitter. Once active, friendly starships in orbit could lock onto the beacon's position and deliver a devastating, high-precision orbital strike. While not specifically intended as a self-destruct mechanism, per se, by using the beacon the droid was essentially calling in an orbital strike against itself, which it typically did not survive.

Behind the scenes
In the game Star Wars: Battlefront clone sharpshooters, droid snipers, scout troopers, and Rebel marksmen all carry recon droids to the battlefield. Although all the recon droids are similiar in appearance, they are actually different models. The clone sharpshooters' recon droids are called the R-1 recon droids, the droid snipers have Mark IV recon droids, and the Rebel marksmen and scout troopers both have R-4 recon droids. However, in Star Wars: Battlefront II, the sniper class no longer carry recon droids, but instead they all had an auto turret that they could use to defend certain areas of the battlefield. Instead, the "clone commanders", the IG-100 magnaguards, the Wookiee warriors, and the Imperial officers all carry Arakyd Mark IV recon droids. All the recon droids from the first game used the orbital strike beacons while the recon droids in the second game utilized a self-destruct mechanism.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: Battlefront