Why the A-Wing Absolutely Slaps

The A-Wing is one of the most under-discussed, but arguably most interesting and effective ships in Star Wars. I'll break down the A-Wing on today's Star Wars Legends and canon lore video!

#starwars #starwarslore #starwarsexplained star wars, star wars battle, eckhartsladder, Star wars fighter, lore

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[WhoTookPlockrock]

I had three Star Wars-obsessed friends growing up, and blood was drawn more than once on account of each of us being obsessed with the X-Wing, Y-Wing, A-Wing and B-Wing and thinking the other three were out of their minds for not realizing our favorite was the best.

[Teampegleg]

To put it in real world terms, the A-wings would be better as a combat air patrol (CAP) that flies in ahead of bomber force, similar to how the US used MIGCAPs during the Vietnam War. And the bombers would have dedicated close escorts of probably X-wings. The A-Wings primary purpose is to hunt enemy tie fighters without the restrictions of having to stay close to the escort craft, and are typically sent in waves, at the very least one wave to cover ingress and another to cover egress.

[rainbowappleslice]

The A wing is also super fun to play in Star Wars squadrons

[lordsrednuas]

One of the big reasons the Empire would have had to stick with the TIE line, for a while at least, was... they already had them.
TIE fighters, Advanced, Interceptors, Bombers, Shuttles, etc. are already part of the Empires lineup and while they would be capable of setting up A-wing training and maintenance areas I wonder what it would do to the logistics side of things.

The most important, and little talked about, side of things for any armed force are it's supply lines. The more you can simplify and standardise the better. This has lead to things in the real world like the streamlining of ammunition sizes used by different militaries. while you might prefer something else, if you use the same bullet as your allies resupplying just got a lot easier.

While the different TIE versions naturally had to have some different parts, there was no doubt a lot of commonality and compatibility. Shipping big boxes of 'spare TIE parts' all over the Empire is easier than trying to keep track of TIE and A-wing parts.

I think that's a bigger reason for the Empire to avoid the A-wing than the crafts maintenance demands, even if it needed less maintenance than a TIE the repair shop is going to be more interested if they have the parts to do the work than how long it takes.

[andrewbryant]

Historically speaking its the heaviest pound for pound hitter against SSDs too

[hallamhal]

"The A Wing is the fastest fighter we have, capable of matching a TIE interceptor in speed"
I have that memorised from playing Rogue Squadron so much, it was my favourite growing up!

[MagnusOrkzyd]

"Why the A-Wing Absolutely Slaps"

Me: Idk; ask Admiral Piett and the Executor.

[Moncynnes]

Since we're on the subject of starfighters, here's a question: Lando Calrissian was assigned command of the Rebellion's starfighters at Endor, but he didn't assume command of the Millennium Falcon until Han Solo left for his own mission... so what fighter do you think Lando intended to fly at Endor? A sports car like an A- or X-wing? A flying fortress like a B- or Y-wing? I'm curious to hear your take on this.

[sebastianalvaradocolon]

In terms of Combat capabilities, the A-wing (and to some extent the R-22 Spearhead) absolutely slapped.

However, in terms of maintenance, the Rz-1 A wing (the ones used during the Galactic civil war) were known to often break down, as it was made with different parts and stuff. imagine if your cannons get stuck in the vertical position in a dogfight. Not sure if this is still canon tho.

In the canon, the rz-1was replaced by the rz-2 a wing, also known as the Resistance A wing. It took years of modifications and were now standardized.

In my opinion, I love the A-wing, although I would rather fly the RZ-2 over the RZ-1.

[goroakechi]

A Wing was an INSANELY good interceptor, and definitely a better dog fighter than even an X wing.

[Dave-ctjk]

Rogue Squadron on the N64 did an amazing job (IMO) of making the ships feel different from each other. I always loved the a-wing missions for how nimble the ship felt. The tie interceptor felt very similar, and in some ways better. However those missiles you mentioned played a huge roll in making the A-wing top tier.

[fireborn]

The A-Wing’s speed would be great for escort duty as they could intercept anything long before it is actually a threat to what needs escorting. Pair this with an e-war/sensor ship and you have the early warning system.

[PetesHQ]

The A-Wing is the ultimate Chad fighter and this is a hill I will gladly die on.

[Fridgemasters]

i would love if the A-Wing/B-Wing were included in later SW projects, they’re so underrated

[andycopeland]

Dude the A-Wing is the best. I always love playing the A-Wing missions in X-WING

[tkc]

I just recently looked at early A-Wing EU material. It seems to me that the A-Wing was originally intended to have no missiles, but they did have flexible mounts on their laser cannons (which were specifically stated as requiring skilled pilots to use). I think the original X-Wing game is where they first got concussion missiles. The game narrative part of the documents that come with X-Wing actually repeat earlier material, talking about flexible cannons and a lack of other weapons, while the stats on the opposite page list missiles. It seems to me that Totally Games probably tried to get the A-Wing to work as had been established canonically at that point, but were unable to. So without the gimbaled lasers, they gave it concussion missiles to make up for it (probably creating the missiles specifically for that craft at first). That's just a hypothesis, but I think it has good odds of being true.

Also, the whole R-22 Spearhead retconn seems totally unnecessary to me. That retconn was made to solve the problem of A-Wings appearing in the X-Wing video game (and Rebel Assaultmand probably a few other sources), which was in contradiction with the post-Yavin lore. But since the A-Wing was hand-made in-house by the Rebels, it seems clear to me that it could have been more elegantly solved by just saying Dodonna's fleet had some techs making A-Wings under his supervision, which included flexible gun mounts (some of which could swivel 360 degrees) and no missiles. When Dodonna and Blissex teamed up to make the A-Wing, they streamlined the design for full production, taking away the flexible mounts that some had and making room for the missile launched. In the New Republic era, Incom would later go on to make production versions with combined the best of both worlds, including full 360 swivels.

As for the TIE Defender, the version you played in Squadrons is heavily nerfed. The real thing is way faster than the A-Wing. But it is a much larger target.

P.S.: Thrawn was wrong about the A-Wings on escort duty. A-Wings are great at escorting because they can zoom out to quickly defeat threats before they have a chance to attack, they have very good sensors for early threat detection, AND because they can jam the targeting of smaller attack vessels (at least early sources say they can do that last part). Flying escort doesn't mean that you have to fly wingtip to wingtip.

[silenceburns]

One of the old X-Wing games had a mission that i still have ptsd over. One A-Wing vs 24 TIEs. It was the most balls to the walls bonkers missions I ever played in any space sim.

[dat]

I've been slaughtering TIE's with the A-Wing for twenty years in X-Wing Alliance and then did the same in Squadrons. Fly it correctly and be sneaky and it's almost unstoppable.

[guyderagisch]

A-wing was awesome in battle front. It's small size and maneuverability made up for light shields.

[commander]

I love the concept that, despite the horrid degree to which rebellion pilots were outnumbered to imperial ones, there's still a section of them that are determined, intelligent and/or crazy enough to strap themselves into an arrow shaped brick missile with guns and steering just to tear their way across the galaxy and take their republic back.

Also, dunno why but the model of engines being called "Event Horizon" just sets off the fanboy in me, it just sounds cool.