Interdiction field/Legends

"The whole system? That's impossible. No one could generate an interdiction field that big."

- Leia Organa Solo

An interdiction field was an artificial gravity well that disabled hyperspace capability in most starships. They were used to prevent ships from entering hyperspace as well as draw ships out of hyperspace and into realspace.

The Galactic Republic's Interdictor-class Star Cruisers, which were developed during the Mandalorian Wars, used powerful tractor beams to produce a interdictor field. The most notable of those vessels was the Leviathan. This form of "interdiction" did not produce large amounts of gravity, and was largely ineffective on the hyperspace engines of later years(SWDB: Leviathan)

During that same time period, the Mass Shadow Generator Superweapon may have been an example of an interdiction field generator that rivaled the ones built by the Empire years later. It required tremendous power.

A millennium later, the problem of power consumption still made interdiction field generators capable of disrupting modern hyperdrives unpractical. While the theory behind it was well known, movable objects, such as ships, had a difficult time producing enough power to create the mass shadows.

The Vagaari ship nets seemed to have found a way around the power consumption problem. It is unknown whether this technology was created by the Vagaari or stolen from another race in the Unknown Regions, like most of their other technology. Thrawn stole a "ship net" from the Vagaari while he was a commander in the Chiss Expansionary Defense Fleet. He used this gravity projector successfully in several engagements. The Interdictor technology used on his ships while a Grand Admiral in the Galactic Empire was probably developed separatley by the Empire or late Republic -several years after the supposedly "primitive" races in the Unknown Regions.

The Galactic Empire used the Detainer CC-2200 Interdictor Cruiser, Immobilizer 418 cruiser and Dominator Star Destroyer specifically for hyperspace immobilization. The Sovereign-class Star Dreadnought and the Eclipse-class Star Dreadnought also had gravity well generators, preventing targeted vessels from escaping their firepower.

Yuuzhan Vong dovin basals were also able to project gravity wells to drag their ships through the interstellar void. When these organisms concentrated their energy wells, they could create massive gravitic anomalies, such as causing a space station to collapse or a moon to collide with its orbital partner, a tactic known as Yo'gand's Core. The Yuuzhan Vong interdictor cruiser-analog was the Vua'spar.

This technology was often put to use by pirates in order to pull vulnerable cruisers out of hyperspace in order to be boarded. It was been used by the Republic in the opposite way, intercepting pirate ships before they can escape.

As with any tactical weapon, innovation created a new technology to void its capabilities. The Bakurans' HIMS generators were capable of nullifying the containment capabilities of interdiction fields. These HIMS generators were fitted onto the vessels of the Bakuran Defense Fleet which consisted of three Bakura-class Destroyers Watchkeeper, Defender and Sentinel, and the Namana-class Light Cruiser Intruder. These starships played an important role during the Battle of Centerpoint Station though half of the fleet was destroyed.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
 * Secrets of the Jedi
 * Star Wars; Empire at War
 * Thrawn Trilogy
 * Ambush at Corellia
 * Assault at Selonia
 * Showdown at Centerpoint
 * New Jedi Order
 * Star Wars Legacy 28: Vector, Part 9

Abfangfeld