Variable Geometry Self-Propelled Battle Droid, Mark I/Legends

Vulture droid starfighter "Droids don't talk back, they don't question your orders, and they never complain when you send them on suicide missions."

- Rune Haako

The Variable Geometry Self-Propelled Battle Droid, Mark I, or Vulture droid starfighter, was a droid starfighter used by the Trade Federation. Later, in much vaster numbers, it was utilized by the Confederacy of Independent Systems. It would participate heavily in the Clone Wars, at battles such as the Battle of Muunilinst and Coruscant.

Like most of the Trade Federation's armed forces, it carried no living pilot, but rather a droid brain that was linked to a Droid Control Ship. Each Trade Federation battleship carried 1,500 droid starfighters. It was designed by Haor Chall Engineering, which was founded by the fanatical Xi Char, a religious order dedicated to high-precision manufacturing. As a result, it represented classic Xi-Char design&mdash;a compact body that offered only a small target for enemy fighters, multiple weapons emplacements, and an insectoid appearance.

Description
The starfighter carried four blaster cannons and two energy torpedo launchers, and could reach 1200 kilometers per hour in a planet's atmosphere. When not in flight, the ship could transform into a walking weapons platform, used for ground patrol and troop support. While in this walking mode, a droid starfighter could also latch onto surfaces in zero gravity, allowing the fighters to patrol from the outside hulls of capital ships. When docked in a hangar, they would often flex their components as part of self-maintenance. Vultures were also programmed to self-destruct if their link with their host control ship was severed.

A droid starfighter was capable of maneuvers that would kill an organic pilot, but they lacked the resourcefulness and cunning of living pilots, although they were capable of responding much faster. Vulture droids had an unusual fuel system, relying on solid-fuel concentrate slugs that provided propulsion upon ignition. However, they could only function for 35 minutes before having to be refueled. The Trade Federation solved this issue by sending Vulture droids into battle in timed, rotating swarms. Although they could react quicker to new situations than organic pilots, they had trouble responding to friendly units firing on them, a weakness Mace Windu exploited on Haruun Kal and the Battle of Coruscant.

Vulture droids were also capable of communication with one another, normally with chattering. Vulture droid starfighters were usually named by a six-digit designation number, consisting of DFS- and a three-digit alpha-numeric combination, as illustrated by the fighters DFS-1VR and DFS-4CT.

Droid starfighters were launched in overwhelming numbers and excelled in both atmospheric and space combat. The droid starfighter's weapon systems consisted of four blaster cannons with two per wing. In standard flight format, the drone's wings were collapsed to conceal its blaster cannons. In combat, these wings split up to reveal these blaster cannons. In addition, the droid possessed two energy torpedo launchers that would weaken enemy targets before the starfighter delivered a laser cannon barrage. In walker-mode, the starfighter could only use its two torpedo launchers as its cannons were situated on the legs and pointed downwards.

Pre-Clone Wars
The droid starfighter endured rigorous testing before being deployed in the Trade Federation invasion of Naboo in 32 BBY. Droid starfighters saw action during skirmishes with Degan pirates in the Elrood Sector and were responsible for defeating the pirate Nym's forces on Lok. The Naboo first encountered these drones when Echo Flight pilots led by Essara Till battled them during an assault on Station TFP-9, not long before the assault on Naboo. The droid starfighter saw action in the Invasion of Naboo, during which they at first provided general air superiority, and later swarms of them combatted Naboo N-1 starfighters in the battle above the planet and were ultimately neutralized when Anakin Skywalker(who later became Darth Vader) disabled the Droid Control Ship.

After the battle, droid starfighters commanded by Raith Sienar participated as part of the Trade Federation Defense Fleet alongside Republic forces during the attack on the living world Zonama Sekot. They would also be part of the Trade Federation force sent to destroy Outbound Flight, but were neutralized thanks to the Chiss Admiral Thrawn, who exploited their reliance on the droid control signal by jamming its entire spectrum, nullifying the whole force. They also saw action during the Trade Federation's occupation of the Karthakk system.

Clone Wars
"Master, General Grievous's ship is directly ahead, the one crawling with Vulture Droids."

- Anakin Skywalker

During the Clone Wars, many Vulture droids were painted with the blue and white hexagonal insignia of the Confederacy of Independent Systems, although many were seen in the early and middle stages of the war with Trade Federation brown coloring, and were upgraded with buzz droid missile launchers, which they opened their wings to launch. They were also produced by manufacturers such as Baktoid rather than their original Xi Char developers. They were deployed by the Confederacy against the Republic in numerous battles and conflicts including the Battle of Geonosis and the Battle of Coruscant, although the Confederacy also made substantial use of other fighters, such as the Geonosian starfighter. However, they did not overly pose a challenge for Jedi aces such as Anakin Skywalker, as demonstrated in the Battle of Terra Sool. During the Coruscant attack, Mace Windu was able to ride a Vulture by tugging on its cranial wires. General Grievous often used them for suicide attacks designed to sow chaos, by making them perform kamikaze attacks on civilian targets. An advanced model was deployed prior to and during the Clone Wars. Throughout the war, Vultures were augmented by droid tri-fighters, which were sturdier but less common. Despite the deactivation of the droid armies, Vultures were apparently being used by some parties by 18 BBY.

Years after the Clone Wars, Vultures were utilized by Gizor Dellso in defense of his facility on Mustafar. However, the Galactic Empire uncovered his plan, and the stormtroopers of the 501st Legion stormed the planet, destroying the orbiting defense ships and decimating the facility. Even after this, Vultures would continue to be used by various parties, such as smugglers.

Behind the scenes
The Vulture droid's first appearance was in the novelization of Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. In the early plans for The Phantom Menace, the Trade Federation was intended to use more conventional starfighters that were merely piloted by B1 battle droids, like those in the Battlefront games. An early concept sketch depicted a fighter whose cockpit strongly resembled those of the TIE series. It was later decided that the fighters should themselves be droids.

In the Clone Wars cartoon, Vulture droids are depicted with brown coloring during the attack on Coruscant, despite being depicted as blue in the film. This can be taken to be an artistic error in the cartoon, as the cartoon itself was released before the movie. In the games Star Wars: Battlefront and Star Wars: Battlefront II, Vulture droids (as well as other droid starships, such as the Droid Tri-fighter) are depicted as requiring a pilot to operate. This can be attributed to be game mechanics. During the Clone Wars movie Vulture droids are seen firing their laser cannons from their energy torpedo ports rather than from in between their wings. This is possibly due to artistic license, however it's established that Vulture droids can fire laser blasts from their torpedo emitters but primarily only when they are in walker mode. This may have also been done to make animating and tracking the shots easier for the animators.