DC-17m Interchangeable Weapon System/Legends

"Nice Deece. Ion pulse blaster, RPG anti-armor, and sniper?"

- Anonymous clone trooper to Clone commando 'Darman'

The DC-17m Interchangeable Weapon System (DC-17m ICWS) was a configurable combat weapons system used by the clone commandos of the Galactic Republic. This weapon was a variant of the DC-15 blaster rifle, which was used by standard clone troopers. The DC-17m was much smaller and lighter than the DC-15 and more versatile due to the fact that it could carry three different weapon attachments.

Characteristics
The DC-17m, produced by BlasTech Industries, appeared at first glance similar to any regular blaster rifle. However—as it's "ICWS" name would suggest—the DC-17m could convert from the base stock mount into primarily three different weapons.

Blaster
"Okay, the clip was a nuisance, but the thing never jammed in heat, cold, or dust; it was accurate, and even swapping out the attachments was no more trouble than reloading."

- Darman

The main weapon was a rapid-fire ion pulse blaster rifle; the favored configuration most often used by clone commandos. This configuration used power pack clips that held 60 rounds each. It was an extremely powerful weapon capable of quickly and efficiently killing most enemies ranging from battle droids to organics.

Sniper rifle
"Sniper mode: Very accurate. Very deadly"

- Boss

The DC-17m could also quickly convert into a long-range ion pulse sniper rifle with an electromagnetic scope (the IPS rifle round was a projectile encased in blaster energy, like a bowcaster bolt). Each magazine held five rounds. It functioned at two levels of zoom: 10x and 20x. The sights also provided an x-ray vision effect, to locate vital targets within the enemy. It was a useful weapon to have around on missions requiring stealth, such as assassinations.

Anti-armor
"Anti-Armor: Great against fortified droids, armored vehicles, and anyone else with an inflated opinion of himself."

- Boss

The third configuration was an anti-armor charge launcher equipped with a dumb-fire warhead which boasted the ability to cause high amounts of damage and having a large area of fragmentation. Each shot expended the attachment meaning the trooper had to replace it after each shot. Due to the attachment's size, only a small number of these could be carried by a trooper.

Additional Attachments
"They were tough. Intel said they could defeat Jedi. They were even rumored to have a weapon that could deflect and destroy a lightsaber blade.  Maybe Jedi needed to tool up with PEP lasers, then."

- Fi

Later on during the Clone Wars, a fourth non-lethal attachment known as the Pulsed Energy Projectile—or PEP—was introduced. Effective in riot and crowd control, or any other situation where death was undesirable, the PEP laser attachment utilized a deuterium fluoride laser to stun targets into submission without inflicting permanent harm, although it had the potential to leave severe bruising. The weapon also produced a powerful shockwave of sound and light when fired and was described as "like being flash-banged and hit in the chest by several plastoid rounds at once".

By the third year of the war, Merr-Sonn Munitions had developed a fifth attachment for the DC-17m: a rapid-entry grenade. Similar to the anti-armor attachment in use, the new grenade was fired from the end of the DC-17's muzzle from a stand-off rod and used to breach doors from a safe distance. The rapid-entry grenade held a few small criticisms from the soldiers who used it, one stating that the stand-off rod made the DC-17 "unwieldy", while another believed that it was too blunt of an instrument and an insult to their elite training. It would, however, prove itself to be a useful tool in executing door breach maneuvers where a potential dangerous and hostile forces could be waiting on the other side.

History
DC-17m rifles, sniper rifles, and anti-armor launchers were used by clone commandos throughout the Clone Wars, on worlds from Geonosis and Qiilura to Kashyyyk.

After the Great Jedi Purge, the commmandos were not given new weapons, and were allowed to keep their DC-17 rifles, in order to avoid wasting time with new weapons training.

Due to their advanced creativity and notable personalities, various clone commandos favored the different ICWS attachments. The leaders of Delta Squad, RC-1138 and RC-1140, often used the DC-17m blaster rifle, while the dark-humored Sev preferred the long-range, one-shot-kill functionality of the sniper rifle. The squad's explosives expert, Scorch, had a blaster with the anti-armor conversion, which had a capacity of only 4 shots. However, all were proficient in all configurations and were able to use them to their full potential.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: Republic Commando
 * Republic Commando: Hard Contact
 * Omega Squad: Targets
 * Honor Bound
 * Republic Commando: Triple Zero
 * Odds
 * Republic Commando: True Colors
 * Order 66: A Republic Commando Novel
 * Reversal of Fortune
 * Orders
 * Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader
 * Imperial Commando: 501st
 * Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader
 * Imperial Commando: 501st

Notes and references
DC-17m Waffensystem