- "This is a Class-A thermal detonator, you know what that means?"
- ―Luke Skywalker
The Merr-Sonn Munitions, Inc. Class-A thermal detonator was a grenade widely used by armed forces, illegal militias, and rebel groups across the galaxy, though highly illegal for anyone other than military personnel to possess.
Description[]
A Class-A thermal detonator was a small metal sphere surrounding a core that consisted of baradium covered in a layer of thermite.[6] It had blast radius of twenty meters, making it the most powerful commercially manufactured detonator in the galaxy—however, some custom-made thermal detonators were even more powerful. The weapons cost 2,000 credits.[2]
History[]
During the Galactic Civil War, Rebel soldiers tuned down the grenade's blast radius for battlefield purposes while maintaining its effectiveness.[3]
A single Class-A thermal detonator was sufficient to cause the collapse of Xizor's Palace, a huge 102-story building on Coruscant, when Lando Calrissian dropped it down the palace's garbage chute into its basement level.[5] Another Class-A detonator was used by Leia Organa, in her guise as the bounty hunter Boushh, to threaten Jabba the Hutt in her attempt to rescue Han Solo.[7]
Years later, the mercenary-turned Jedi Kyle Katarn used thermal detonators in his missions for the New Republic.[8] During the Yuuzhan Vong War, the Jedi Myrkr strike team used Class-A detonators in their seek-and-destroy mission.[4]
Behind the scenes[]
Class-A thermal detonators first appeared in Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi. In the Battlefront video game series, they serve as the primary grenades for Rebel soldiers.
Appearances[]
Sources[]
- Dark Forces Manual: Coded Transmissions
- Dark Forces Official Player's Guide
- Shadows of the Empire Sourcebook
- † Star Wars Missions (Game card)
- Star Wars Trilogy Sourcebook, Special Edition
- The Essential Guide to Weapons and Technology
- Star Wars Customizable Card Game — Jabba's Palace Limited (Card: Thermal Detonator) (backup link)
- The Official Star Wars Fact File 4 (THE2, Thermal Detonators)
- The Official Star Wars Fact File 13 (BOU5–6, Bounty Hunters – Boushh)
- "Arms & Equipment Guide Extras!" (original article link) on Wizards.com (content now obsolete; backup link)
- Star Wars Battlefront: Prima Official Game Guide
- The New Essential Guide to Weapons and Technology
- Star Wars: Battlefront - Rebel Alliance on LucasArts.com (content now obsolete; backup link)
- Star Wars Battlefront II: Prima Official Game Guide
- Star Wars Blueprints: The Ultimate Collection
- thermal detonator in the Databank (content now obsolete; backup link)
- Star Wars: Edge of the Empire Core Rulebook
- Star Wars: Age of Rebellion Core Rulebook
Notes and references[]
- ↑ The Essential Guide to Weapons and Technology
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 The Official Star Wars Fact File
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Star Wars Battlefront: Prima Official Game Guide
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 The New Jedi Order: Star by Star
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Shadows of the Empire novel
- ↑ The New Essential Guide to Weapons and Technology
- ↑ Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi
- ↑ Star Wars: Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast