TIE/D Defender/Legends

The TIE Defender was an extremely high-performance starfighter.

Details
The high success rate of Rebel starfighters versus standard Imperial TIE Fighters caused the Imperial Navy to rethink its doctrine of swarms of cheap craft vs. fewer high-quality ones. This interpretation might have been Rebel propaganda; several shielded Imperial starfighters existed before the introduction of the TIE Defender, though they also saw limited service; examples include the TIE Advanced x1, the TIE Avenger, the assault gunboat, and the Skipray Blastboat.

Unlike standard TIE craft, the TIE Defender possessed a Novaldex shield generator and a hyperdrive. It carried a formidable array of weaponry, with four laser cannons, two ion cannons, and two warhead launchers each capable of holding four missiles. Models produced by Ysanne Isard's Defender production facility also sported a small tractor beam. The Defender's triple wing design and powerful engines made the craft faster and more agile than any other starfighter in Imperial service. It was also very expensive, at five times the cost of a standard TIE fighter. Even an organization as wealthy as the Imperial Starfleet chose not to mass-deploy such a fighter (or even the inferior TIE Avenger), so only elite pilots flew them.

The TIE Defender was in many ways far superior to any other starfighter of the time, having the advantage against the X-wing and perhaps all other Rebel craft (save perhaps the A-wing and its speed) in every respect, exceeding the X-wing's armament with its two ion cannons, and two missile launchers with an increased capacity.

At least one squadron of Defenders, Onyx Squadron, saw action at the Battle of Endor. However, they were a very small minority of craft at the battle; the majority were TIE Fighters and TIE Interceptors.

A squadron of Defenders were stationed aboard the Interdictor cruiser Wrack during the Yuuzhan Vong invasion. Three participated in the Battle of Bilbringi, two were destroyed and one retreated to Imperial space.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds
 * Star Wars: Rebellion
 * Star Wars: TIE Fighter
 * Star Wars: X-wing vs. TIE Fighter
 * Star Wars: X-wing Alliance
 * X-wing: Isard's Revenge
 * X-wing: Starfighters of Adumar
 * Dark Tide II: Ruin