All Terrain Armored Transport/Legends

The All Terrain Armored Transport walker, or AT-AT, was a major part of the Galactic Empire's army. They were assembled by Kuat Drive Yards, and evolved from the AT-TE walkers that were first employed in the Battle of Geonosis. The AT-AT itself (or a very similar prototype model) first saw action during the Battle of Jabiim later in the Clone Wars.

AT-ATs were large, four-footed machines resembling great machine beasts. Their primary purpose was transportation of more vulnerable units across the battlefield. It could carry either 40 Imperial Stormtroopers and 5 speeder bikes, or 2 AT-ST units (which were presumably carried disassembled, due to the otherwise prohibitive size of the AT-ST). The Stormtroopers could be deployed via rappeling cable, but the heavier ordinance could only exit after the slow and comparatively awkward process of the AT-AT kneeling and extending its ramps.

AT-ATs and AT-STs were deployed from orbit by Y-85 Titan Dropships.

The arsenal of the AT-AT was also devastating, as they possessed two chin-mounted heavy laser cannons to destroy slow, bulky targets and two temple-mounted medium blaster cannons which could engage lighter targets. The armor plating was too thick for blasters to penetrate, and they could walk over--and thereby crush--people and equipment. Sometime after the Battle of Endor, the Empire replaced the AT-AT's lasers and blasters with light turbolasers, easily capable of defeating many hardened defensive weapons emplacements.

At the Battle of Hoth, the Empire used walkers to land beyond the limits of the Rebel Alliance's shield. General Maximilian Veers commanded the ground forces and advanced on the shield generator. Faced with such forces, Luke Skywalker employed a strategy earlier devised by himself and strategist Beryl Chiffonage to disable the walkers: his team of snowspeeders would use their magnetic harpoons and tow cables to entangle the walkers' feet, causing them to fall. Wedge Antilles and his gunner Wes Janson managed to disable one walker this way. Luke destroyed a second by cutting a hole in it with his lightsaber and tossing in a concussion grenade, and a third was destroyed when a speeder crashed into it.

Despite these small successes, they were ultimately insufficient to turn the tide of the battle, and the Battle of Hoth was one of the most devastating losses for the Rebels in the entire Galactic Civil War.

AT-ATs later patrolled the garrison base on the Forest Moon of Endor, but were limited by the dense foliage of the moon; as a result, AT-STs saw far more use.

AT-AT pilots are specially trained soldiers from the Imperial Army. They wear white armor similar to that of TIE fighter pilots.

Behind the Scenes
The AT-ATs on screen were created with the use of stop-motion animation.

While Expanded Universe sources based on West End Games' Star Wars roleplaying game list the AT-AT at a height of 15 meters, the Inside the Worlds of the Original Trilogy factbook uses measurements from the movie to place it at a larger size, around 23 meters.

Appearances

 * Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
 * Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
 * The Battle of Cadinth
 * Dark Empire
 * The Unifying Force
 * Star Wars Battlefront
 * Shadows of the Empire
 * Star Wars:Rogue Squadron Series
 * Star Wars Battlefront II