R-22 Spearhead/Legends



The R-22 Spearhead was a fast starfighter design. It was broadly similar in design and function to the earlier Republic Delta-7 Aethersprite-class starfighter and Eta-2 Actis-class interceptor.

It was in use by the Tammuz-an defense forces, and later became an experimental testbed for the Rebel Alliance shortly before the Battle of Yavin. Two of the craft participated in that same battle, both of which survived. It seems that the Spearhead was nicknamed A-wing among Rebel pilots to keep a consistency to names of the other "-wing" crafts (T-65 X-wing starfighter, Y-wing, etc.)



The name A-wing persisted when the model was modified by Jan Dodonna and Walex Blissex into the Rebel Alliance's fast RZ-1 A-wing interceptor. What those modifications concerned and how they differed the new model from the Spearhead proper is unknown, though it is known that Dodonna's decision to create the A-wing was largely driven by the Alliance's lack of of a starfighter that could match the TIE Fighter for raw speed.

Behind the scenes
Although the A-wing was created after the Battle of Yavin, EU sources that take place before that time, such as Star Wars: Droids, Star Wars: X-wing, and Star Wars: Rebel Assault, feature ships similar to A-wings. The two latter call them by name, instead of Spearheads.

Dan Wallace, who wrote The New Essential Guide to Characters, invented the Spearhead in order to explain their presence those times. The name is similar to that pf the R-41 Starchaser, and the Spearhead may, like the Starchaser, be a design of Hoersch-Kessel Drive, Inc.

A-wings then appear in Star Wars: X-wing Alliance, which takes place after the Battle of Hoth. However, its game stats are identical to that of the "Spearhead A-wing" appearing in the first game of the series. The canonical difference between the two versions is not known.

Even after the discrepancy was resolved with the invention of that retcon, sources such as Empire at War insisted in the name A-wing when Spearhead was expected. Perhaps the name Spearhead was useless in the Rebel Alliance and was fully replaced by the name A-wing, which could have been a moniker, before the production of the normal A-wing.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: Droids
 * Star Wars: X-wing (as A-wing)
 * Star Wars: Rebel Assault (as A-wing)
 * Empire at War (as A-wing)