Clone Trooper EMP Launcher
From Wookieepedia, the Star Wars wiki.
The Clone Trooper EMP (Electro-Magnetic Pulse) Launcher was a devastating weapon when used against the droid forces of the Confederacy of Independent Systems as they were able to both deactivate doids by shorting out electronics and destroy their interior circuitry with powerful EMP waves. Clone Jet Troopers used these as their primary weapon although the slow rate of fire often frustrated troopers trying to deal with multiple enemies at once; as a result they were provided with a better-than-average back-up sidearm, the commando pistol.
The EMP launcher was, as its name implies, an ion weapon intended to deal massive amounts of damage against enemy CIS droids. Upon impact with a solid object, the projectile would detonate, dealing ion damage to surrounding enemies. The EMP launcher was specifically designed by Merr-Sonn to destroy droids through ion damage. The CIS B-1 battle droids, the superior B2 super battle droid, and practically all CIS battle droids were extremely susceptible to ion damage.[1] The electricity would short-circuit the droids' neural network[2] and render the droid useless. Droids hit by a blast from an EMP launcher had a tendency to fly apart as the electromagnetic couplings for their limbs were overloaded by the pulse.
The EMP launcher was identical in design to several other weapons produced by Merr-Sonn, namely the RD-1 Radiation Launcher and the V-6d Mortar Launcher, suggesting it may well have been a modification to a basic design and the rounds fired were actually physical EMP grenades, not blasts or bolts of EMP energy.
