Lambda-class T-4a shuttle/Legends

Lambda-class shuttle "Let's see what this piece of junk can do."

- Han Solo, commenting on the Tydirium

The Lambda-class T-4a shuttle was a standard light utility craft in common use throughout the Imperial military as a transport for troops and high-ranking individuals.

Characteristics
"No, I don't think the Empire had Wookiees in mind when they designed her, Chewie."

- Han Solo to Chewbacca

The Lambda-class shuttle was based on a tri-wing design with a central stationary wing flanked by a pair of folding wings. When in flight position, the wing configuration resembled an inverted Y. When landing, the lower wings folded upwards.

The Lambda was designed as both a cargo and troop transport and could carry 80 tons or more than 20 soldiers. It had a crew of six: a pilot, co-pilot, navigator, communications officer, gunner, and engineer. A shuttle could be piloted by a skeleton crew consisting of a single officer during emergencies. It was also equipped with a Class 1 hyperdrive since its mission profile involved traveling across the galaxy.

The Lambda was reasonably well-armed, with three double blaster cannons (one rear-mounted) and two double laser cannons. The military version built by Cygnus Spaceworks was armed with ten laser cannons. It was also protected by a powerful deflector shield, which was powered by multiple generators. A Lambda was covered by a heavily reinforced hull capable of deflecting laser fire. The shuttle class was so well armed that it was able to travel across the galaxy without an escort, thus making it suitable for covert operations.



In an emergency the cockpit could be jettisoned from the main body and travel a short distance under sublight speed. The lifeboat did not have enough space for all passengers when the shuttle had its full complement and therefore priority was given to the most senior officers onboard.

History
"It can't accelerate worth a wheep and it turns slower than a comet, but if you get in its sights, it can blow you to itty-bitty pieces. It would be embarrassing to have to inform your family you got shot apart by a shuttle, so stay alert."

- Villian Dance

It was designed by former Cygnus Spaceworks employees who were lured away by Sienar Fleet Systems, which promised them high salaries, a portion of future profits, and even personal star yachts. Although these shuttles were primarily manufactured by Sienar, Cygnus was subcontracted to build a more heavily armed military version. It was the immediate successor of the Theta-class T-2c shuttle, and was first introduced in 19 BBY at some point after the Imperial subjugation of Kashyyyk.

The Lambda-class shuttle was used along with the TIE/sh shuttle to transport officers between ships in a fleet. Lower ranking officers usually used the TIE shuttle, while the larger Lambda-class shuttles were reserved for flag officers. The Lambda was also favored by Imperial personnel because it was heavily armed and shielded. Thus, the vehicle class found itself used by key Imperial officials including Darth Vader and even Emperor Palpatine himself. These high-ranking officials often converted the cargo space into personal quarters and equipped them with secure HoloNet transceivers directly connected to Imperial Center. Palpatine's shuttle was equipped with extra shielding, for obvious reasons. It was also rumored that it was equipped with a cloaking device for added protection.



The Lambda-class shuttle Tydirium was captured by the Alliance to Restore the Republic and used to insert a strike team on the forest moon of Endor. In addition to this, the Alliance maintained a fleet of Lambda-class shuttles as support ships, with the Alliance Starbird painted on the central wing.

With the fall of the Empire, Cygnus also manufactured a variant of the shuttle similar to the original version. The Lambda also found itself used by various sectorial and planetary security forces including the New Republic and the Galactic Federation of Free Alliances. Jacen Solo and Ben Skywalker used an armed Lambda-class variant during their mission to Adumar in 40 ABY.

Behind the scenes
Lambda shuttles were erroneously referred to as "Tyderian class" in some sources, a misunderstanding originating from the shuttle Tydirium.

The name Lambda comes from the Greek letter (uppercase Λ, lowercase λ) whose lowercase form resembles the general arrangement of the shuttle's wings. The designation of this shuttle type as Lambda-class dates back to the novelization of Return of the Jedi (1983), and was picked up by contributors to West End Games when that company began writing material about the shuttle.

In Return of the Jedi (and in a re-used scene inserted into the special edition of The Empire Strikes Back), there is an inconsistency between the ILM model and the mock-up used on the set. The main difference between the two is the cockpit of the shuttle. While the bottom of the cockpit lines up with the bottom of the shuttle's body in the ILM model, the mock-up of the shuttle has a cockpit that dips much further down. The other notable difference is that the landing gear of the shuttle in the mockup are much taller, allowing people to easily walk underneath, while with the ILM model, there wouldn't be enough room for a person to fit under the Lambda. This has affected other Star Wars media as well, most likely due to using different reference pictures when creating illustrations.

The Sienar/Cygnus connection has occasionally been a source of confusion, but the StarWars.com Databank indicates that the Lambda's predecessor was built by Cygnus and the designers of that shuttle were lured away by Sienar, who then built the original Lambda shuttles. Cygnus then built the Lambda under license from Sienar. Sienar and Cygnus also cooperated on the Sentinel-class landing craft, a derivative design.



Another derivative design known as the Delta-class JV-7 escort shuttle was seen in the X-wing computer game series. The craft library of the game X-wing Alliance describes it as a "militarized version of the Lambda-class shuttle built under subcontract to Sienar," but little else is known about its design and manufacturing history.

In these titles that feature the Delta-class, the Lambda-class was toned down. It lacks the potently deadly rear turret, has less armor and shields, and a slower speed than the Delta. Lambda-class shuttles are frequently found in the hands of pirates and smugglers, rather than exclusive Imperial use. Missions often use them as starfighters (instead of their role of transporting important personnel) and not surprisingly they fare poorly due to their large size and lack of maneuverability.

One notable inconsistency in several sources of canon is the layout of the cockpit. In "Star Wars Complete Cross Sections", the cockpit is shown as having six seats in the center of the cockpit and additional seats on each side, two of which accommodate port and starboard gunners. An early drawing from Lucasfilm Ltd. also showed this layout, and was used by the artist drawing the shuttle. However, the deckplan for the shuttle shown above only contains six seats in the cockpit. The movie cockpit also appears to only hold six crew members. The Lego model's cockpit only holds 4.

A Lambda-class T-4a shuttle is shown in the pilot episode of the Firefly television series created by Joss Whedon. It can be seen lifting off from the Evesdown Docks in the background behind Serenity.

In September of 2010, LEGO Star Wars released a model of the shuttle that was fully in scale to minifigures. The shuttle model includes folding wings, detachable landing gear, and 5 minifigures of Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader, a shuttle pilot, an Imperial officer, and a Stormtrooper. The model was dubbed an ultimate collectors model.

In 1995 the model kit company AMT/Ertl released a model kit of the Imperial Shuttle. The resulting model of the ship is inaccurate, and resembles the set piece rather than the ILM filming miniature. The German model company Revell released a second kit of this ship, but it appeared to have been based on the AMT/Ertl kit and suffers from the same proportionality problems.

Non-canon appearances

 * LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga
 * A Death Star Is Born
 * Prey
 * LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy
 * Star Wars Infinities: A New Hope
 * Tag & Bink Are Dead
 * The Return of Tag & Bink: Special Edition
 * Junkheap Hero
 * Star Wars Infinities: The Empire Strikes Back
 * Star Wars Infinities: Return of the Jedi
 * Vader vs. Artoo & Threepio
 * Soulcalibur IV