Various Armaments of Starships

Typical Armaments

Laser Cannon: A laser cannon is the standard weapon for use by most starships and other vehicles. It exists in a myriad of forms, from the huge versions used by starships, through medium-sized turret-mounted variants, to the much smaller personal cannons sometimes carried by infantry. Though based on the same principles, with their beams having a nearly identical nature, laser cannons are more powerful than similarly-sized blasters. Laser cannons were originally used by starships to blast debris, such as asteroids, out of their way. These cannons are incredibly destructive and can be targeted very accurately.

Point-Defense Laser Cannon: The point-defense laser cannon is a light laser cannon used on capital ships that are meant to defend against starfighter assaults, although it is often used in ship to ship combat as well.

Blaster Cannon: A blaster cannon, also known as a flash cannon, is a limited-range heavy artillery variant of the handheld blaster. Blaster cannons are commonly fitted aboard atmospheric vehicles. Blaster cannons are powered by power packs of ionized cryogenic cells. Unlike laser cannons, blaster cannons can be set at various levels of damage, ranging from stun to full power. Aside, there existed several designations of blaster cannon strength, including light blaster cannons, medium blaster cannons, and heavy blaster cannons. Blaster cannons are commonly less powerful than laser cannons, though are quite effective during atmospheric combat, especially against ground troops and vehicles.

Concussion Missile Launcher: A concussion missile is a short-range, wingless anti-vehicle missile generally deployed by vehicles mounted launchers. There are a wide range of concussion missiles, varying in speed, maneuverability, and destructive capability. The concussion missile evolved from the ancient concussion spheres that were bigger, slower, and less destructive weapons that were similar to traditional bombs.

Tractor Beam: A tractor beam is a modified force field projected from spaceports, planetary bases and starships to help guide vessels to a safe landing. They can also be used to capture enemy ships. The first Death Star was equipped with 700 tractor beam generators, enabling it to pull ships such as the Millennium Falcon with ease.

Proton Torpedo Launcher: Proton torpedoes come in a wide array of sizes and yields; from massively powerful capital ship weapons designed for orbital bombardment, to small but nimble fighter-grade weapons like those Luke Skywalker employed against the first Death Star. A number of torpedo designs are shielded to protect them from being shot down either by skilled pilots or the target's defensive flak guns. Small starfighters like the Rebel Alliance X-wing and Y-wing fighters often had their laser weaponry complemented by ordnance launchers capable of firing proton torpedoes. The energized torpedoes carry a devastatingly powerful blast, and can be fired at much greater ranges than the standard laser cannon. The torpedoes are exceptionally maneuverable, able to make a 90 degree turn within a turning circle of a meter, enabling them to be used against starfighters, such as when Corran Horn in his X-Wing used them against Erisi Dlarit's TIE Interceptor.

Cloaking Device: The cloaking device is a mechanism capable of rendering a starship or an object invisible to both sensors and the naked eye. While sensor jammers can leave a starship invisible to sensors, cloaking devices generate cloaking fields that completely absorb all incoming sensor scans while shielding the host ship's emissions and reflected energy, thus rendering the starship invisible to both sensors and the naked eye. A single cloaking device unit towers over the average Human with a balloon-shaped computer core standing over a series of cloaking field antennas. Below lay the power cells, which are connected to the cloaking field matrix by a series of wires.

Heavy Turbolaser Turret: Mounted in three turrets on each side of the dorsal hull, the twin-barreled turbolasers serve as heavy anti-capital ship weapons, being too slow to reliably target fast starfighters. They can punch through both deflector shields and armor on spaceships with the heaviest defensive layers. Several monitor stations are tied in to each turret, with firing control on top, the targeting level in the middle and modulation and power feed controls located in floors underneath. The crew is protected by proton-shielded armor plates on the surface of the vessel.

Ion Cannon: An ion cannon is a weapon which fires highly ionized particles or highly ionized plasma. These particles seriously interfere with the operation of electronics and computer systems, shorting circuits and often disabling them outright. The actual physical damage will sometimes result in fused joints on machines, due to the heat produced. Large negative-ion pulses are charged in a turbine generator then channeled into a plasma charge or released as a large pulse towards a target. As a result, ion cannons are the weapon of choice for subduing, rather than destroying, enemy starships, vehicles, shields, or droids.

Deflector Shield: Deflector shields, also known as deflector screens, deflectors or simply shields, are translucent or transparent energy fields produced by deflector shield generators. These generators can be placed on planets, droids, starships, space stations and individual buildings. The primary purpose of the shield is to block or deflect projectiles and lasers from hitting the object under protection.