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Laser cannon

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Luke Skywalker defends Echo Base using a turret-mounted laser cannon.
Luke Skywalker defends Echo Base using a turret-mounted laser cannon.
"Target, maximum firepower."
―General Maximilian Veers[src]

A laser cannon was the standard weapon for use by most starships and other vehicles. It existed in a myriad of forms, from the huge versions used by starships, through medium-sized turret-mounted variants, to the much smaller personal cannons sometimes carried by infantry.

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[edit] Physics

Though based on the same principles, with their beams having a nearly identical nature, laser cannons were more powerful than similarly-sized blasters. Laser cannons were originally used by starships to blast debris, such as asteroids, out of their way. These cannons were incredibly destructive and could be targeted very accurately. Though the beam from a laser cannon was not itself a laser since the beam moved slower than light speed and had an explosive nature, it is probable that a laser cannon was so named because it used a laser in the energizing of its blaster gas.

[edit] History

Chin-mounted heavy laser cannons on an AT-AT.
Chin-mounted heavy laser cannons on an AT-AT.

After a time, pirates adapted this technology to their ships, increasing their accuracy so they could be effectively used in raids. For defense against such pirates, companies started to develop proper laser weaponry, making it more accurate while still retaining its destructiveness. The military quickly picked up on this weaponry, too. Most starfighters and civilian ships would carry at least one cannon and large capital ships carried many. The technology was refined further, to create turbolasers, but these were too big for many small ships to carry.

Starships, such as the Executor-class Star Dreadnaught, Viscount-class Star Defender and the EF76 Nebulon-B escort frigate, began using laser cannons as anti-starfighter defenses. These weapons were later engineered to fire beams with sufficient accuracy and power to intercept enemy missiles from long range: the point-defense laser cannon, mounted on Zann Consortium Crusader-class corvettes, was an example.

Eventually, laser cannon technology was so refined that ground-based vehicles such as the AT-AT could use them. Even some infantry, such as B-2 battle droids, could be equipped with laser cannons rather than personal blasters.

[edit] Variants

[edit] Appearances

[edit] Sources

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