User:McEwok/Imperial Starfighter Corps

"For every TIE fighter you shoot down, a thousand more will take its place."

- Baron Soontir Fel remarking on the Imperial Navy's approach to starfighter combat

Starfighter Operations was the branch of the Imperial military made up of starfighters, pilots and their support personnel. It was an integrated part of the Imperial Navy, and for planetary-defense duties where no fleet forces were present, Navy pilots had to be assigned to Imperial Army surface units, a situation that caused some tension between the two arms of the military.

History
The tradition of using starfighters in space combat stretched back many millennia before the Declaration of a New Order. During the fortieth century BBY, there had been a Republic Starfighter Corps, and during the Clone Wars, both the Grand Army of the Republic and the Jedi Order produced starfighter squadrons. It is not clear whether the Republic Navy maintained an integrated starfighter arm at this time, or if the Empire's subsequent Fighter Ops division owed anything to any of these organizations.



A major stimulus to the growth of Imperial naval aviation was the introduction of the TIE Fighter, which allowed starfighters to serve aboard many capital ships that had not previously accommodated them, notably Dreadnaught Cruisers and Carrack-class light cruisers.

Due to the nature of the TIE's twin ion engine, most Imperial fighters lacked deflector shields or hyperdrive. Missile systems were also limited to specialist attack variants such as the TIE/sa bomber and TIE/gt attack fighter, presumably to improve the performance and keep down the cost of normal fighters.

Training
By the time of the Galactic Civil War, flying starfighters had come to be regarded as the most challenging and prestigious career in the Imperial Navy. Reflecting these demands, only the top five percent of Sector Naval Academy cadets were eligible for fighter-pilot training, or the top third of the class from the elite Imperial Naval Academy.

Pilot training thus took place after the completion of Academy training, in a separate series of flight schools, which were often situated aboard Star Destroyers, with training squadrons built into their TIE wings. These were not simply rear-echelon courses based around theory and simulators: the candidates would be flying fighters in combat situations long before they qualified. The trainee pilots were normally expected to function as reserves in battle, but losses or difficulties among the squadrons ahead of them could sometimes see trainees being pushed into combat in their first such flight. Even making to flight school was no guarantee of success, however, as only one in ten of the officers accepted as trainee pilots actually went on to fly a fighter.

Another option was for officers to apply for transfer to flight school once their Navy career had begun For example, T. Alvak graduated only in the top third from Prefsbelt IV, not the five percent that would have allowed an immediate transfer to flight school. Wanting to fly TIEs, he secured an assignment as an astrogator in a shuttle unit. Honing his piloting skills here, he converted to TIEs two years into his military career, via the Tir training school, which was based aboard the Star Destroyer Inflexible. He soon reached the rank of Flight Captain, implying squadron command, and gained a reputation as highly capable pilot.

Additionally, as losses among Imperial fighter units mounted in the conflict against the Rebellion, the Empire began attempts to entice trained small-craft pilots to join the military from other careers. After the Battle of Yavin, ex-Separatist fighter ace Nas Ghent was personally recruited by Darth Vader to rebuild Black Squadron. This form of pilot recruitment may be reflected in the career of Maarek Stele, who was originally a repair mechanic aboard the Star Destroyer Vengeance: a skilled swoop biker, he learned to fly starfighters due to an unofficial policy of mechanics taking repaired TIEs for test flights. After catching the attention of an Admiral, he was put through a two-month indoctrination course, and then returned to the training squadron aboard Vengeance.

Lastly, in perhaps the most important variation on the system, some officers may have taken a different path, becoming fighter pilots immediately after the Academy without any additional flight school training. This seems to have been the case with Han Solo and Soontir Fel, who graduated first and second in their year at Carida, and also with Biggs Darklighter and Hobbie Klivian, later trained by Fel at Prefsbelt IV. It is notable that all these officers received significant pilot training within the Academy curriculum, but it may be that their early active-duty assignments were in fact in training squadrons, and that this fact has merely been glossed over in available sources.

Also of note here is Coruscanti Pilot Institute, which consisted of a three-year flight course on Imperial Center, followed by a final year of training on Carida, integrated with the first-year stormtrooper cadets, but with a specific emphasis on TIE piloting. As the final year of this curriculum corresponds to a one-year Academy course, it appears that the CPI was in fact an elite high school, designed to feed pupils into the Academy system&mdash;with the expectation from the outset that they would become TIE Pilots.

It is notable that Fighter Ops, with its emphasis on selecting only the top candidates, included a number of prominent female officers, such as Kasan Moor and Juno Eclipse, both of whom were considered among the very best pilots in the Empire. Shira Brie and Myrette Davani graduated first and second in their class at CPI.

Operations
In spite of the elite nature of pilot training, standard TIE tactics emphasized numbers rather than individual skill, and considered individual pilots expendable. Casualties were high. Most pilots would do a one-year tour of duty in the cockpit, with the survivors presumably transferring to line command, or to rear-echelon operations and training positions within Fighter Ops.

Soontir Fel was rare in that he volunteered for a second cockpit tour, from where he moved to command a Dreadnaught Cruiser. Subsequently returning to Fighter Ops as an instructor on Prefsbelt IV, he did his best to pass on skills that would ensure their students' survival in combat. His disgrace following the defection of the Rand Ecliptic saw him assigned to a fighter squadron for a third tour. After restoring his reputation, by almost single-handedly transforming his entire wing into an elite unit, he remained in Fighter Ops as a command officer, normally leading from the front.

Elite units such as the 181st Fighter Group and Scimitar Assault Wing appear to have had a greater long-term retention of pilots than most. In the Scimitar Wing, for example, a pilot was rotated to rear-echelon duties after fifty bombing missions. As new pilots were rotated out of the line, the personnel who had spent longest in non-combat positions returned to the cockpit. But even in the Scimitar Wing, combat losses were made up with inexperienced trainees straight from a training squadron, who had no experience flying the TIE Bomber that was the wing's mainstay.

Later developments
Attempts to rectify combat losses and the weaknesses of early TIE designs began with the TIE Advanced x1 prototype, flown by Darth Vader, and 3 ABY saw the introduction of the hyperspace-capable, missile-armed and shielded TIE Avenger and TIE/D Defender; however, these models were extremely costly and only produced in small numbers.

The death of Emperor Palpatine at the Battle of Endor, and the subsequent establishment of the New Republic, deal a serious body-blow to the Empire's morale, followed by political fragmentation and territorial contraction that followed. Among the effects was a dramatic decline in the supply of TIEs and pilots.

When Ysanne Isard seized control of Thyferra in 7 ABY, she possessed significant fleet resources including a Super Star Destroyer, but she was unable to assert control over any starfighter production facilities, forcing her to barter for fighters with rogue commanders like Harrsk and Teradoc. Rather than Academy-trained officers, her only source of new pilots was a local militia, the Thyferran Home Defense Corps.

At the same time, the collapse of the chain of command meant that Fighter Ops resources were often re-organized to serve the ambitions of local leaders. Some, like Zsinj and Leonia Tavira with the Raptors and the Invids, were openly piratical, or nearly so. Others, such as the TIE Pirates led by Lieutenant Harme Kiela or Countess Iran Ryad's Red Star Squadron, justified their actions with impractical dreams of restoring the New Order. Ironically, Countess Ryad was killed on Imperial orders by Soontir Fel, who would later go on to command the Household Phalanx in the Unknown Regions, consisting of alien Chiss pilots flying Clawcraft fighters based on the TIE design.

In part, however, the abrupt lack of TIE pilots and TIE Fighters may have been due to the efforts which the Imperial Ruling Council had made to redeploy material to secure fortress worlds. Fighter Ops ultimately survived as a recognizable arm of the Imperial Navy, a process that was aided when Grand Admiral Thrawn took control of the military, as he insisted on a more economical attitude to TIE tactics, including fitting most fighters with shields.

Subsequently, elite Fighter Ops formations were able to field some of the Galaxy's best starfighters. The Scimitar Assault Wing gained the specially-designed Scimitar Assault Bomber, conceived by the unit's commander with Thrawn's encouragement, while the 181st Imperial Fighter Group adopted the TIE Defender. However, the Empire's military-industrial capacity was still slowly declining, and by 19 ABY, even the Supreme Commander's flagship was making use of SoroSuub Preybirds, procured irregularly from non-Imperial sources.

After the end of hostilities with the New Republic, the situation stabilized somewhat, but in 40 ABY, TIE Interceptor equipped with deflector shields were still an unsurprising sight in Fighter Ops units.

Subsequently, however, the Empire would rise again and ultimately strike back, reconquering the Galaxy in the Sith-Imperial War of 127-130 ABY. The top-of-the-line Imperial fighter of the second century ABY, the Sienar Predator, was still a lineal design descendant of the TIE, and the continuing role of Fighter Ops as an integrated element within the fleet was illustrated by the fact that the High Moff of the Imperial Navy was now a former fighter pilot, Rulf Yage.

It is not known if the Imperial Army ever developed its own integrated starfighter forces, but there is at least one possible hint that they were still dependent on the Navy: Moff Yage's old unit, Skull Squadron, were flying ground-support duties in Imperial City in 137 ABY.

Organization
Fighter Ops was part of a larger Navy grouping known as Flight Branch, which also included shuttle and capital ship pilots. This was one of the most basic organizational elements of the fleet, and may have been inherited from the Republic Navy.

Little is known about the higher-level internal organization of Fighter Operations. In part, this is because the normal Fighter Ops deployment consisted of a relatively small tactical unit integrated within another command: TIE pilots aboard a Navy warship would be answerable to the captain, while those assigned to surface duty were usually attached to the command of an Imperial Army Major General. Aboard a Navy vessel, the integration of TIE pilots into the ship's company was emphasized by the fact that the maintenance of their fighters was in the hands of Technical Services Officer from the Fleet Support Branch, entirely separate from Flight Branch.

Some Super Star Destroyers served as fleet carriers, and given their great size, their crews may have included extra levels of Fighter Ops command hierarchy. However, it is possible that Line Branch and Fleet Support Branch retained control of tactics and maintenance even here.

Flying units
Only commissioned officers in Fighter Ops actually flew fighters. Noncommissioned personnel were engaged in starfighter support activity. Senior officers rarely took part in actual combat, though they were normally veterans, serving in command and battlefield co-ordination roles.



Wing
A wing was the largest tactical starfighter unit deployed by the Empire, and was normally commanded by a Colonel. At least in later years, some wings could be led by a General, and the wing based at the Palace on Imperial Center was commanded by Air Marshal Cargeloch.

A standard wing assigned to support line units of the Imperial Navy consisted of six squadrons, or seventy-two fighters. When it was deployed as a single unit, a wing typically contained four squadrons of TIE/ln starfighters, one of TIE/In interceptors, and one of TIE/sa bombers. The twin-hulled bomber had not fully replaced the older single-cockpit TIE/gt attack fighter during the Galactic Civil War, however.

Specialist units could be organized differently. The Scimitar Assault Wing, specializing in bombing raids on Rebel surface bases, had three squadrons of TIE Bombers, two of TIE fighters to protect them, and one Special Unit squadron. This included one flight of TIE/rc spotters and fighter escorts, and two flights of MT/191 dropships, which could land two battalions of ground troops to follow up the aerial attack.

However, a full TIE wing was only deployed aboard a limited number of ships, notably the Escort Carrier, the Vindicator-class cruiser, and the Imperial-class Star Destroyer.

In some cases, the lack of a full wing on other ships was due to limited flight-deck space, but it also reflected the endemic shortage of starfighters in the Empire. It was for this reason that just two wings, a total of 144 fighters, were carried aboard the massive Super Star Destroyer Executor. Even an Imperial-class Star Destroyer was actually capable of carrying hundreds of fighters into battle.

When assigned to the Imperial Army, Fighter Ops personnel were organized into Ground Support Wings, consisting of forty TIEs. These were attached to Corps commands, and treated as an element of the headquarters along with security troops and rear-echelon personnel. A Ground Support Wing nominally consisted of two squadrons of TIE/gt attack fighters, one TIE Bomber squadron, and a flight of four TIE/fc spotters. As its name suggests, this formation was optimized for ground-attack missions, although the TIE/gt and TIE/fc could be pressed into an air-superiority role if required.

The shortages of fighters experienced by the Navy were felt even more intensely by the Army, and in practice, not every Corps had a Ground Support Wing. They were prioritized to planetary garrisons, which consisted of a Corps command structure without full-strength infantry and armor battlegroups, rather than to full-strength combat Corps, which would have at least minimal Imperial Navy starfighter support from the capital ships of the troop line with which it was integrated. Moreover, when a Ground Support Wing did exist, it was often composed of whatever TIEs the Army could get its hands on, with little regard for the intended order of battle. Very often, it was a miscellany of basic fighter types, with effective ground-attack capability provided by a flight of just two TIE Bombers.

The Ground Support Wing included its own support personnel: sixty ground crew, twenty-five sensor technicians, and twenty-five flight controllers. However, it is not known how these men were divided between Navy specialists and Army troopers, or how these numbers compared with those maintaining the TIEs aboard capital ships.

Intermediate Units
Not every ship could support a full wing of fighters. A particularly common formation was a two-squadron pairing, found aboard ships as diverse as EF76 Nebulon-B escort frigates, Dreadnaught Cruisers, Immobilizer 418 interdictors, and Victory-class Star Destroyers.

These small groupings were probably always sub-components of larger wings that had been divided between several ships: the Dreadnaught Abrogator, for instance, carried elements of the 37th Imperial Fighter Wing.

These two-squadron units may have been designated as Groups. This title was certainly in use for some formations larger than squadrons but smaller than wings. In the years before the Battle of Hoth, the 181st Imperial Fighter Wing was down-sized to become an elite Group, although this formation consisted of three squadrons rather than two, and remained as an independent unit with a colonel in command and its former wing numbering intact.

Squadron
The smallest independent unit in the Starfighter Corps was normally a squadron, which was a group of three flights, or twelve fighters in total. This was usually led by a Flight Captain, or by a Lieutenant with the title Lieutenant Commander.

Squadrons were normally an integral part of larger formations, and numbered accordingly: Baron Fel served with the 6/37th and 2/181st squadrons, for example. That said, some of the Empire's best squadrons may have functioned as rogue units with independent status on the order of battle, not assigned to any group or wing. The 128th TIE Interceptor Squadron seems to be an example of this, and Black Squadron, which was numbered as the 61st, may also have been such a squadron.

Flight
A flight was the most basic combat unit within Fighter Ops, and consisted of a group of four starfighters. It was usually, but a single flight was sometimes found as a detached scout unit aboard ships that could not carry a full TIE squadron, such as the Carrack-class light cruiser.

Even smaller than the flight was the element. This consisted of just two pilots, leader and wingman. It did not normally deploy as a unit within its own right.

Order of Ranks
Fighter Ops officers, like many other specialist personnel in the Imperial Navy, used army-style ranks.

Junior officers were often addressed as Lieutenant, but ranks of Flight Officer and Flight Lieutenant were known, as well as a squadron-command position of Lieutenant Commander. However, the normal rank for a squadron commander was Captain, or more fully, Flight Captain.

Senior officers were Commander, Major, Colonel and General. A high rank of Air Marshal is also known, though it is unclear where it fitted into the hierarchy.

Famous units
"Imperial High Command decided that Defender pilots would only be selected from TIE Interceptor pilots who had flown at least twenty combat missions and survived. We're either the best pilots in the Imperial fleet or the luckiest."

- Onyx Squadron leader Rexler Brath


 * 128th TIE Interceptor Squadron
 * 181st Imperial Fighter Group
 * Saber Squadron
 * Alpha Squadron
 * Avenger Squadron
 * Black Squadron
 * Obsidian Squadron
 * Onyx Squadron
 * Scimitar Assault Wing
 * Sigma Squadron

Uniforms
Officers of the Starfighter Corps wore variants on the same standard uniform used by the Army and the Navy. However, a number of variants are seen. Some pilots, including Darth Vader's elite Black Squadron and Onyx Squadron pilots aboard the second Death Star, wore wore the black uniforms associated with the Stormtrooper Corps and some elite Navy personnel. On other occasions, however, pilots appear in green or grey uniforms like Navy and Army line personnel.

It may be that uniforms of all three colors could be worn in different circumstances: while serving with the 181st, Baron Fel wore black at his wedding, green in the ceremony when he received his barony, and what appears to be grey on combat duty. Pilots of the 181st also distinguished themselves by adding red stripes to the sleeves of their flight and dress uniforms.

Flight gloves with deck uniform were a popular uniform variant for TIE pilots, being worn by Air Marshal Cargeloch, General Carvin, and Baron Fel, among others.

Craft
The most recognizable ship in the Starfighter Corps was the basic TIE Fighter, but it employed various other ships such as the TIE Interceptor and the TIE/D Defender as they were developed.

Multi-purpose

 * ARC-170 starfighter
 * Alpha-class Xg-1 Star Wing
 * Belbullab-22 starfighter




 * I-7 Howlrunner
 * INT-4 Interceptor
 * Preybird-class starfighter
 * Skipray Blastboat
 * TIE Aggressor
 * TIE Avenger
 * TIE/D Defender
 * TIE/ln starfighter
 * TIE/In starfighter
 * TIE Hunter
 * TIE Phantom
 * TIE/Ld Trainer

Scouts



 * A-9 Vigilance interceptor
 * Alpha-3 Nimbus-class V-wing starfighter
 * Eta-2 Actis-class light interceptor
 * Predator I Probe-Mate jump pod
 * TIE/fc starfighter
 * TIE/rc starfighter
 * TIE Scout
 * TIE Vanguard

Bombers



 * Scimitar assault bomber
 * TIE/sa bomber
 * TIE/gt starfighter
 * TIE Interdictor
 * TIE Oppressor

Droid

 * Missile droid
 * Shadow Droid
 * TIE/D automated fighter

Prototype

 * TIE Advanced x1
 * TIE Advanced x2
 * TIE Advanced x3
 * TIE Advanced x7
 * TIE Experimental M1
 * TIE Experimental M2
 * TIE Experimental M3
 * TIE Experimental M4
 * TIE Experimental M5

Appearances

 * Star Wars: Battlefront
 * Star Wars: Battlefront II
 * Mist Encounter
 * Jaws of the Sarlacc
 * Star Wars: Droids
 * The Pirates of Tarnoonga
 * Boba Fett: Enemy of the Empire
 * Out of the Cradle
 * Han Solo at Stars' End comic
 * Star Wars: Imperial Ace
 * Star Wars: Rebellion
 * Star Wars: Rebel Assault
 * Star Wars: Rebel Assault II: The Hidden Empire
 * Star Wars: X-wing
 * Darth Vader: Extinction
 * Star Wars: Empire at War
 * Star Wars: Empire at War: Forces of Corruption
 * Star Wars Missions 1: Assault on Yavin Four
 * Star Wars Missions 3: Attack on Delrakkin
 * Star Wars Missions 4: Destroy the Liquidator
 * Star Wars Missions 7: Ithorian Invasion
 * Star Wars Missions 9: Revolt of the Battle Droids
 * Star Wars Missions 11: Bounty Hunters vs. Battle Droids (Mentioned only)
 * Star Wars Missions 17: Darth Vader's Return
 * Star Wars Missions 18: Rogue Squadron to the Rescue
 * Star Wars Missions 16: Imperial Jailbreak
 * Star Wars: Rogue Squadron
 * Star Wars: Ewoks
 * Battle for the Sunstar
 * The Farlander Papers
 * Routine
 * Prey (Appears in flashback(s))
 * First Impressions
 * Star Wars Empire: Betrayal
 * Star Wars Empire: Darklighter
 * Star Wars Empire: Princess... Warrior
 * X-wing Rogue Squadron ½
 * Star Wars Empire: The Short, Happy Life of Roons Sewell (Appears in flashback(s))
 * Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds
 * Star Wars Journal: The Fight for Justice
 * Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
 * Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (novel) (First appearance)
 * Rookies: Rendezvous
 * Rookies: No Turning Back
 * Star Wars: Empire at War: Forces of Corruption
 * Han Solo's Rescue Mission
 * X-wing Marks The Spot
 * Trooper
 * Star Wars Empire 13: What Sin Loyalty?
 * Star Wars Empire 7: Sacrifice
 * Star Wars Empire: To the Last Man
 * The Bounty Hunter of Ord Mantell
 * Darth Vader Strikes
 * The Serpent Masters
 * Traitor's Gambit
 * The Night Beast
 * Iceworld
 * Revenge of the Jedi
 * Doom Mission
 * Race for Survival
 * Droid Trouble
 * A Bitter Winter (Mentioned only)
 * The Star Wars Holiday Special
 * Star Wars: Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader
 * Star Wars: Rogue Squadron III: Rebel Strike
 * Star Wars: Force Commander
 * Vader's Quest
 * Imperial Spy
 * Death Star Pirates
 * Star Wars Empire 23: The Bravery of Being Out of Range
 * Star Wars Empire: Idiot's Array
 * Star Wars Empire: "General" Skywalker
 * Star Wars Empire 28: Wreckage
 * Star Wars Empire 31: The Price of Power
 * Star Wars Empire: In the Shadows of Their Fathers
 * Star Wars Empire 35: A Model Officer
 * Boba Fett: Overkill *Star Wars Rebellion 0: Crossroads
 * Star Wars Rebellion: My Brother, My Enemy
 * Star Wars Rebellion: The Ahakista Gambit
 * To Fight Another Day
 * "Combat Moon" - Star Wars Adventure Journal 9 (Mentioned only)
 * Walking the Path That's Given
 * Dark Knight's Devilry
 * Tatooine Sojourn
 * Princess Leia, Imperial Servant
 * Bring Me the Children
 * As Long As We Live...
 * The Frozen World of Ota
 * Star Wars Galaxies: Jump to Lightspeed
 * Showdown
 * Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
 * Entrenched
 * Moment of Doubt (Appears in flashback(s))
 * Star Wars: TIE Fighter
 * Star Wars: X-wing vs. TIE Fighter
 * Star Wars: Demolition
 * Shadows of the Empire comic
 * Shadows of the Empire novel
 * Star Wars: X-wing Alliance
 * Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
 * Lucky (Appears in flashback(s))
 * X-wing series
 * Thrawn Trilogy
 * Dark Empire
 * Dark Empire II
 * Empire's End
 * Jedi Search
 * Dark Apprentice
 * Champions of the Force
 * I, Jedi
 * Darksaber
 * Star Wars: Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast
 * Star Wars: Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy
 * The Hand of Thrawn Duology
 * Junior Jedi Knights: Kenobi's Blade (Appears in hologram)
 * Young Jedi Knights: Heirs of the Force
 * Young Jedi Knights: The Lost Ones
 * Young Jedi Knights: Darkest Knight
 * Young Jedi Knights: Jedi Under Siege
 * Dark Tide I: Onslaught
 * Edge of Victory I: Conquest (Mentioned only)
 * Dark Journey (Mentioned only)
 * Force Heretic I: Remnant
 * Force Heretic III: Reunion
 * Betrayal
 * Exile
 * Sacrifice (Mentioned only)
 * "Talnar's Rescue" - Star Wars Gamer