Sublight engines on a T-65 X-wing starfighter.
A sublight drive was a vital starship component used to drive ships through Realspace at normal speeds; the most common form of sublight drive was the ion engine, which the TIE fighter used two of to achieve its incredible speeds. It is not to be confused with the hyperdrive, which was used to propel ships through hyperspace.
The usual speeds achieved by sublight drive are quite substantial, amounting to a respectable fraction of lightspeed itself. A freighter-sized vessel propelled by sublight drive could clear the atmosphere of a planet and its gravity well in a matter of minutes.
The most common sublight drive is produced by Hoersch-Kessel being found in vessels ranging from the T-16 Skyhopper to the Imperial Star Destroyer.
Several other kinds of sublight drives are represented here:
Appearances
- Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace
- Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones
- Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
- Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (First appearance)
- Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
- Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
Sources
Sublight drive in the Databank (content now obsolete; backup link)- Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game, Second Edition, Revised and Expanded
"Hapes: Ladies First" (original article link) on Wizards.com (content now obsolete; backup link)- The Official Star Wars Fact File 19 (Starship Drive Systems)