Electromagnetic pulse launcher

The electromagnetic pulse (EMP) launcher was a devastating weapon when used against the battle 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.

DescriptionEdit

The Merr-Sonn electromagnetic pulse launcher was an ion weapon capable of disrupting Confederacy of Independent Systems battle droids. Upon impact with a solid object, the projectile would detonate, dealing ion damage to the droids circuitry.^[1][2] The electricity would short-circuit the droids' neural network and render the droid useless.^[5] 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 Galactic Republic's Grand Army clone jet troopers used the EMP launcher on battlefronts throughout the Clone Wars.^[3][4]

Behind the scenesEdit

The EMP launcher appears in the Star Wars: Battlefront video game series, serving as the primary weapon of the jet trooper, the Republic's unit of the special class. In the first game, the weapon unleashes powerful blasts of electromagnetic pulse upon impact that can consistently destroy fully-shielded droidekas in two hits.^[3] Although it retains its name and identity as the jet trooper's primary weapon in the sequel, the ion effect was removed, causing it to function as a normal missile launcher.^[4] It also appears in the 2004 novel Republic Commando: Hard Contact.^[5]

In the The Clone Wars Campaign Guide, the EMP launcher is listed under the weapons of the clone jet trooper as the "EMP grenade launcher".^[6] This is inconsistent with the original Star Wars: Battlefront video game, where the weapon functions more similarly to a missile launcher than a grenade launcher,^[3] and the game's strategy guide describes the discharge as not a physical projectile, but a pure blast of electromagnetic energy.^[1][2]

AppearancesEdit

• Star Wars: Battlefront (First appearance)
• Star Wars: Battlefront II
• Star Wars Battlefront: Elite Squadron
• Republic Commando: Hard Contact
• Star Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron

SourcesEdit

• Star Wars Battlefront: Prima Official Game Guide
• The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia
• The Clone Wars Campaign Guide

Notes and referencesEdit