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- "We're the heavy hitters. When you need a command bridge leveled or a convoy of tanks wiped out, the K-wings get the call."
- ―New Republic pilot Miranda Doni shortly before her death at Doornik-319
The BTL-S8 K-wing assault starfighter, commonly known as the K-wing, was a heavy starfighter/bomber.
Characteristics
The K-wing assault starfighter was produced by Koensayr Manufacturing, the same company responsible for producing the venerable Y-wing. Like many other New Republic starfighters, the K-wing was designed to excel in a specific primary role in combat while retaining the flexibility to serve secondary functions if needed.
The K-wing starfighter's primary missions included precision bombing of planetary targets, slow-moving capital ships, and spaceborne installations. It also performed secondary missions as an escort or reconnaissance ship.
K-wings during the Battle of Doornik-319.
The hull design of the K-wing consisted of two primary wings attached to a fixed stabilizer. The two main ion engines located at the junction between the wings and stabilizer allowed the K-wing to achieve a sublight speed similar to the Y-wing, despite its larger size.
An additional engine mounted along the centerline on the aft dorsal section of the stabilizer allowed the fighter to accelerate rapidly in short bursts, much like the SLAM system found on the Imperial Missile Boat. Unfortunately, the K-wing had no hyperdrive capability, and was always deployed from a capital ship.
To fulfill its role in the New Republic Defense Fleet, the K-wing carried an unusually large arsenal for a vessel of its size. The hull had a total of 18 hard points, five on each upper wing and four on each lower wing, to allow technicians to arm the ship with a large variety of weapons including flechétte and concussion missiles, proton and other sublight torpedoes, thermal and other inertial bombs, small space mines, and T-33 plasma torpedoes.
When attacked by enemy fighters, the K-wing could return fire with a short-range quad turbolaser turret with multi-stage lasers located at the fore and a medium-range twin laser cannon turret mounted on the top of its command module. Also, the K-wing could be outfitted with slugthrower cannons on the hardpoints for additional short-range firepower. Like most New Republic fighters, it was also equipped with a deflector shield.
Due to its large weapons loadout, the K-wing required a bombardier. The pilot and gunner sat in cockpits on either side of the command section. In case of emergency, this module was able to detach from the rest of the ship to serve as an escape pod.
History
K-wings were first deployed in combat by the New Republic during the Yevethan crisis. Throughout their service years, they were generally deployed in outsize squadrons, with three flights of six bombers a piece.
Some Viscount-class Star Defenders were known to have K-wings in their hangar complements as an alternative to B-wings.[1]
During the Second Galactic Civil War, Commenor deployed K-wings for defense during the Battle of Commenor.[2]
Behind the scenes
Source discrepancies
While The New Essential Guide to Vehicles and Vessels describes the K-wing as mounting laser turrets for self-defense, in The Black Fleet Crisis, it is indicated that the fighter has no built-in armament whatsoever, and instead relies entirely on its wing hardpoints to carry weaponry. The Black Fleet Crisis also lists the K-wing's third engine as being below the other two and at a slight angle to help the K-wing pull out of a dive, making its placement in The New Essential Guide to Vehicles and Vessels unlikely. Other discrepancies include the arrangement of the wings and cockpit, with most visual sources using a pair of side by side cockpits, while the Black Fleet Trilogy refers to the pilot and bombardier sitting one behind the other. Starships of the Galaxy (Saga Edition) addresses all of these issues, with the laser armaments and side-by-side cockpit arrangement being identified as later modifications to the vessel, and the "turbolaser" designation being a non-technical use of the term.
Appearances
- Star Wars: Battlefront (cut content)
- Before the Storm (First appearance)
- Shield of Lies
- Tyrant's Test
- The New Jedi Order: Star by Star
- Legacy of the Force: Fury
Sources
- Cracken's Threat Dossier
"Starship Battles Preview 1" (original article link) on Wizards.com (content now obsolete; backup link (/default.asp?x=starwars/article/SBPreview1) not verified!)- The New Essential Guide to Vehicles and Vessels
- Starships of the Galaxy, Saga Edition
- Star Wars: The Official Starships & Vehicles Collection 12
