The Electro magnetic pulse (EMP) Launcher was a devastating weapon when used against the droid forces of the Confederacy of Independent Systems as they were able to both deactivate droids 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 DC-17 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 B1 battle droids, the superior B2 super battle droid, and practically all Confederate 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 only weakness to the EMP launcher was the Droideka, as it often took multiple hits to bring its shield down and, the troopers weak armor was easily penetrated by the droidekas repeating blasters.

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.

Contents 1 Appearances 2 Sources 3 Notes and references 3.1 In other languages

AppearancesEdit

• Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace (video game)
• Star Wars: Battlefront
• Star Wars: Battlefront II
• Star Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron
• Republic Commando: Hard Contact
• Star Wars Battlefront: Elite Squadron

SourcesEdit

• The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia

Notes and referencesEdit