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Ion cannon

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A planetary-based ion cannon at Echo Base on the planet Hoth.
"A weapon that neutralizes all power to our ships, leaving the targets defenseless."
―Plo Koon[src]

An ion cannon was a weapon which fired highly ionized particles or highly ionized plasma.

Contents

[edit] Characteristics

"We'll never make it through unless the fighters can eliminate the ion cannons on the Star Destroyers!"
―Admiral Ackbar[src]

These particles seriously interfered with the operation of electronics and computer systems, shorting circuits and often disabling them outright. The actual physical damage would sometimes result in fused joints on machines, due to the heat produced.[1]

Large negative-ion pulses were 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 were the weapon of choice for subduing, rather than destroying, enemy starships, vehicles, shields, or droids.

[edit] History

"Order the defense towers to fire ion cannons and turbolasers at will!"
―Queen Amanoa, ordering the groundside defensive cannons during the Battle of Iziz [src]
The Malevolence fires its ion cannon.

They were often used on capital ships, such as Star Destroyers, to facilitate the capture of enemy vessels or disabling them to allow safe close-range fire. They also helped to drop shields prior to destroying enemy vessels. Fighters such as the B-wing,Y-wing, TIE/D Defender, and the Razor fighter in some cases, were also equipped with ion cannons, of much smaller size. Ships owned by bounty hunters were sometimes modified to use ion cannons,such as Boba Fett's Slave I.

A more powerful form of the ion cannon was used in the Clone Wars, mounted on the CIS ship, the Malevolence. It was capable of stopping Venator-class Star Destroyers and could stop entire fleets in their tracks. The weapon overloaded near the Balmorra Run thanks to the efforts of Anakin Skywalker and Ahsoka Tano.

They could also be planet-based weapons, as seen in the Battle of Hoth, where the Rebel Alliance used a stolen v-150 Planet Defender to disable the Star Destroyer Tyrant, allowing a transport to escape through the Imperial blockade.

Borstel NK-7 ion cannon

However, there are certain types of ion cannons which are meant to do more physical damage with electrical disruption as a plus. These types of ion cannon, however, have the drawback of low firing rate and are often just replaced with heavy turbolasers.

One type of ion cannon was the Kuat V-200, used to break through shielding and bring down heavily armored vehicles. There was also a specialized version for taking down the heavily armored spacetroopers.

The Galactic Empire also experimented with ion cannons by modifying AT-ATs to become All Terrain Ion Cannons, or AT-ICs, effectively creating a mobile ion cannon. The AT-ICs saw limited action during the Galactic Civil War.

[edit] Appearances

ISD-II fitted with octuple ion cannon batteries let loose a barrage during the Battle of Endor.
Concept art by Ralph McQuarrie.

[edit] Sources

[edit] Notes and references

  1. ↑ Dark Apprentice
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