Reconnaissance Troop Transporter

The Reconnaissance Troop Transporter (RTT) was an Imperial repulsorlift troop carrier model.

Characteristics


The RTT was an armored repulsorlift vehicle built with three open-air traveling racks on each side and usually mounted a twin light blaster cannon on top. At least one model was armed with two additional cannons at the front of the vehicle. The traveling racks could spring open for rapid deployment of the troops carried, but also left the troopers exposed while traveling. In addition to the six troopers carried on the outside, the Troop Transporter had room for several individuals on the inside. At the back of the Transporter was a Prisoner Immobilization Unit used to detain and tame renegade droids.

History
Troop Transporters were usually used for patrols on occupied Imperial worlds. Imperial occupation forces on the Outer Rim planet Lothal had troop transports of this kind among their arsenal.

In addition to patrol work, the RTT also saw action with elite units participating in search-and-destroy missions. Such was the case during the search for the stolen Death Star plans, where search parties on Tatooine used at least one such vehicle to travel across the desert. These troops detained and questioned a band of Jawas suspected of having captured the droids carrying the plans, before killing them and destroying their sandcrawler with the Transporter's cannon.

Several Transporters were later used by Orman Tagge on the same planet, during a test of his brother's latest invention, the Omega Frost. Sienar's Transporters would also participate in the Imperial Civil War around 10 ABY, when they shuttled troops around the battlefields on Coruscant.

Behind the scenes
The Reconnaissance Troop Transporter, then known as the Imperial Troop Transporter, was a toy released by Kenner Products, and was the first Star Wars toy released to not actually appear in the films. It also came with a story booklet that explained that it was present off-screen in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, listing it as being responsible for the destruction of the Sandcrawler that had carried R2-D2 and C-3PO.

In the original release of the toy, the Imperial Troop Transporter included six selectable voice recordings taken from A New Hope (then known as simply Star Wars), including "R2-D2, where are you?" and "There's one! Set for stun!" It was later re-released heavily modified as the "Imperial Cruiser," where most of its electronics were removed and some of its decals were altered. The space that had held the electronics was turned into a cargo hold.

A troop transport vehicle with a similar design to the Reconnaissance Troop Transporter was seen in the Echo Base and Home One hangar bays in The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, respectively.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: Dark Times 30: A Spark Remains, Part 3
 * Star Wars Rebels
 * Way of the Wookiee
 * Rookies: Rendezvous
 * Imperial troop transporter
 * Star Wars 31: Return to Tatooine
 * Star Wars 32: The Jawa Express
 * Dark Knight's Devilry
 * The Empire Strikes Back Monthly 153
 * Classic Star Wars: Devilworlds 1
 * Boba Fett: Overkill