LAAT/i

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"These gunships fly like butcherbugs and cut into us like Blood Carvers. We must have one." ―Archduke Poggle the Lesser[src] The Low Altitude Assault Transport/infantry (LAAT/i), often referred to as the Republic attack gunship, was a specialized gunship designed for aerial-based support and infantry transportation. It was produced by Rothana Heavy Engineering and used by the Grand Army of the Republic during the Clone Wars, The Galactic Empire also used it for a brief period after the conclusion of the war. The LAAT/i was affectionately known as the "larty" by clone troopers. Contents [hide] 1 Characteristics 2 History 2.1 Clone Wars 2.1.1 Customization 2.2 Galactic Civil War 3 Variants 4 Behind the scenes 5 Appearances 5.1 Non-canon appearances 6 Sources 7 Notes and references [edit]Characteristics

A LAAT/i. The LAAT/i was a repulsorlift infantry transport capable of carrying up to thirty troopers. Secondary functions included reconnaissance, direct fire support, search-and-recovery, and low-altitude air-to-ground and air-to-air strikes against vehicles ranging from airspeeders to starfighters. In addition to its trooper complement, housed on a deckplate protected by drooping wings and a sliding side door, the LAAT/i could carry four military speeder bikes in an aft-deployable rack. The crew complement comprised a clone trooper pilot and co-pilot/forward gunner in the hunchbacked cockpit, and two auxiliary gunners stationed in pinpoint composite-beam turrets extending on articulated arms from the troop cabin. An IM-6 medical droid was commonly carried aboard in an emergency locker. In the event of emergencies, the cockpit capsule could separate from the main craft to act as an escape pod.[4] The LAAT/i was a fully armed gun platform, with a complete arsenal of weaponry that consisted of three anti-personnel laser turrets, two forward-facing, one covering the stern hatch; two top-mounted mass-driver missile launchers fed by rear-mounted ordnance belts and commonly loaded with short-range homing missiles, HE (high explosive), HEAP (high explosive armor-piercing), and APF (anti-personnel fragmentation) rounds; four composite-beam, pin-point laser turrets, two of which were automated bubble-turrets located on either wing; and eight light air-to-air rockets stowed on the underside of each wing.

LAAT/i gunships on Orto Plutonia with their bay doors closed. Infantry gunships were equipped with atmospheric containment shielding and could be deployed from space, although their optimal fighting range was still in the lower atmosphere, where they could reach speeds in excess of six hundred kilometers per hour. A single Acclamator-class assault ship could carry up to eighty LAAT-series gunships, while a Venator-class Star Destroyer had space for half that complement. The LAAT/i was highly effective but lacked large amounts of armor making it a vulnerable target. When approaching a target, the main cabin would light up red, a visual indicator to stand by, when troopers would conduct last moment preparations including checking their ammunition and communication systems. Once touching down, the red lights would change to green, signaling clearance to disembark. Within the main cabin were various handles attached to cables hanging from the ceiling of the main cabin. When the gunship's hatches were open, clone troopers would hold on to these to help keep their balance while the gunship was in flight. In the case of rapid deployment, clone troopers could hang on to these as the cables were lowered to the ground for quick deployment so the LAAT/i wouldn't need to land. However, during this process, both the clone troopers and gunship were vulnerable to enemy fire, so landing and disembarking regularly is the more common way to deploy troops. [edit]History

[edit]Clone Wars

LAAT/i gunships at the Battle of Geonosis. An early LAAT-design was used as a prisoner transport by the Jedi Order at least ten years before the Clone Wars, but the more familiar infantry version gained fame as an air assault vehicle during the war. The LAAT/i was first deployed in a military operation at the Battle of Geonosis, where six gunships rescued the surviving Jedi from the Petranaki arena under the command of Jedi Master Yoda. The gunships proved valuable for the Republic during the battle, eliminating many Hardcell-class transports and clearing the battlefield of many Separatist armored units, especially Hailfire droids, which were proving deadly for the Republic AT-TEs. Flights of LAAT/i gunships attempted to disable and destroy many of the fleeing Lucrehulk-class core ships on the battlefield. During the war, Jedi would occasionally pilot the gunships, as demonstrated by Mace Windu at Geonosis and Obi-Wan Kenobi at the Battle of Thule. Infantry gunships saw continued use throughout the war, with some stationed at the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. They would prove pivotal for the Republic many times throughout the brutal conflict, helping win many battles. At some point, the Confederacy unveiled their answer to the LAAT, the MAF, followed by the HMP, both of which matched the LAAT in terms of firepower. Ultimately, remaining Republic LAAT/i gunships would be assimilated into the Imperial Army with the formation of the Galactic Empire. Eventually, the Empire would phase out the LAAT for various reasons, replacing them with the MAAT.

An ARC LAAT/i gunship. [edit]Customization During the Clone Wars, many LAAT/i gunships were customized with special paintwork. The Muunilinst 10 had a special gunship assigned to them painted with a blue color scheme and the visage of a rancor across the nose of the ship.[7] Other gunships, some of which were also individually named, were painted with provocative or morale-boosting artwork on the nose of the ship. Some of the known customized gunships were the Lucky Lekku, Crumb Bomber, Spaceward Ho!, Bantha Poodoo, Plo's Bros, Separatist Nightmare, Bad Kitty, Dooku Boot and The Bug Stomper. There was also an LAAT/c gunship with a wampa painted on the nose. [edit]Galactic Civil War

An Imperial LAAT/i in orbit around Coruscant. Early in the Galactic Civil War, a small anti-Imperial faction, led by former Jedi General Rahm Kota, found use for a LAAT/i during their attack on Imperial forces stationed on Felucia, shortly after the inhabitants of the planet were corrupted by the Dark side of the Force. Later on, in the Galactic Civil War, the Rebel Alliance found several disabled, yet still functional, LAAT gunships. The Alliance used these vehicles to further their cause in overthrowing the Empire. When in use by the Rebels, they were known as either "Alliance Assault Craft" or "Rebel Assault Transports". Other rebel groups not affiliated with the Alliance would also come to rely on the aging military transports, like the Jabiimi and Kaminoan rebels. During the Galactic Civil War, an Imperial storm commando named Sarkli, along with many other stormtroopers, landed in a canyon on Geonosis after a skirmish in the asteroid field with Rogue Squadron. Sarkli's escape pod landed near an LAAT/i gunship left over from the Clone Wars. The Imperials were attacked by B1 battle droids, also from the Clone Wars. Sarkli commandeered the LAAT/i in an attempt to escape the droids. Wedge Antilles, who had also crashed on Geonosis, fought his way through stormtroopers and droids and was attacked and almost killed by Sarkli when he came out of the chaos. The LAAT was severely damaged when Wedge took control of an E-Web blaster. Swearing revenge on Wedge, Sarkli crashed the LAAT/i into the canyon wall. [edit]Variants

Luke Skywalker discovers a crashed LAAT/i. Rothana Heavy Engineering produced a number of LAAT variants, including the LAAT/c, a carrier gunship capable of delivering walkers and fighter tanks onto the battlefield; the LAAT/v with deck space for sixteen speeder bikes or eight military landspeeders; and a command variant commonly used by Advanced Recon Commandos. Some models lack the bubble turrets on the sides of the deck, or have painting on the sides instead like Kowakian monkey lizards or Twi'leks. Non-standard paint schemes appear more frequently on craft assigned to serve elite units such as ARC Troopers. On units that have them, the side mounted bubble turrets are mounted on armatures that normally hold the forward half of the passenger bay doors. While the LAAT/i has fields to maintain internal pressure in a vacuum, no LAAT/i has ever been seen operating in space with the side mounted turrets, or without a full set of doors. This would seem to indicate that the additional weaponry is an optional piece of equipment that comes at the cost of restricting the craft to low altitude due to the absence of the front half of the passenger bay doors. [edit]Behind the scenes

The LAAT was inspired by real-world helicopter gunships, notably the Soviet (now Russian) Mil Mi-24 Hind helicopter gunship. [1] The ARC LAAT/i's "nose art" was inspired by the decoration found on some real-world combat aircraft such as the Curtiss P-40 from the 1st AVG Flying Tigers.[source?] [edit]Appearances

Nomad (Possible predecessor) Star Wars: Republic Commando Star Wars: Jedi Starfighter (First appearance) Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones / comic / junior novel Boba Fett: The Fight to Survive Star Wars: The Clone Wars game Machines of War Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds: Clone Campaigns Star Wars: Battlefront Star Wars: Battlefront II Boba Fett: Crossfire Boba Fett: Maze of Deception Star Wars Republic 50: The Defense of Kamino Star Wars Republic: The New Face of War Republic Commando: Hard Contact "The Clone Wars: The Pengalan Tradeoff" - Star Wars Insider 65 Star Wars: Clone Wars – "Chapter 1" Star Wars: Clone Wars – "Chapter 2" Star Wars: Clone Wars – "Chapter 5" Star Wars: Clone Wars – "Chapter 12" Star Wars: Clone Wars – "Chapter 20" Star Wars: Clone Wars – "Chapter 21" Jedi: Shaak Ti Heavy Metal Jedi Run Mace Run One Battle Impregnable Shatterpoint Equipment Hero of Cartao Republic Commando: Triple Zero Republic Commando: True Colors Star Wars Republic: The Battle of Jabiim Star Wars Republic 59: Enemy Lines Star Wars Republic 61: Dead Ends (Appears in flashback(s)) Jedi: Yoda Star Wars Republic 64: Bloodlines (Appears in flashback(s)) Star Wars Republic: Show of Force Star Wars Republic 67: Forever Young Star Wars: The Clone Wars – "The Hidden Enemy" Star Wars: The Clone Wars film / novel Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Jedi Alliance Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Lightsaber Duels Star Wars The Clone Wars 6: Slaves of the Republic - Chapter 6: Escape from Kadavo Star Wars The Clone Wars: The Gauntlet of Death Star Wars The Clone Wars Volume 2: Crash Course Star Wars The Clone Wars Volume 3: The Wind Raiders of Taloraan Star Wars: The Clone Wars – "Ambush" Star Wars: The Clone Wars – "Rising Malevolence" Star Wars: The Clone Wars – "Shadow of Malevolence" Star Wars: The Clone Wars – "Rookies" Star Wars: The Clone Wars – "Bombad Jedi" Star Wars: The Clone Wars – "Cloak of Darkness" Star Wars: The Clone Wars – "Jedi Crash" The Clone Wars: Cold Snap Star Wars: The Clone Wars – "Trespass" Star Wars: The Clone Wars – "Blue Shadow Virus" Star Wars: The Clone Wars – "Mystery of a Thousand Moons" Star Wars: The Clone Wars – "Storm Over Ryloth" Star Wars: The Clone Wars – "Innocents of Ryloth" Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Republic Heroes Star Wars: The Clone Wars – "Hostage Crisis" The Clone Wars: Hunting the Hunters (Part I) Gunship Over Florrum The Clone Wars: Hunting the Hunters (Part I) Star Wars: The Clone Wars – "Holocron Heist" The Clone Wars: Act on Instinct Star Wars: The Clone Wars – "Cargo of Doom" Star Wars: The Clone Wars – "Children of the Force" Star Wars: The Clone Wars – "Landing at Point Rain" Star Wars: The Clone Wars – "Weapons Factory" Star Wars: The Clone Wars – "Legacy of Terror" The Clone Wars: No Prisoners Star Wars The Clone Wars 8: In Service of the Republic, Part 2 Star Wars The Clone Wars 9: In Service of the Republic, Part 3 Star Wars Republic 68: Armor Star Wars: General Grievous Star Wars Republic: The Dreadnaughts of Rendili Boba Fett: A New Threat Routine Valor To the Vanishing Point Brothers in Arms Heroes on Both Sides Reversal of Fortune Labyrinth of Evil Star Wars Republic: The Siege of Saleucami What Goes Up... Star Wars: Clone Wars – "Chapter 23" Star Wars: Clone Wars – "Chapter 25" Orders (Appears in flashback(s)) Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith / comic / novel / junior novel Order 66: A Republic Commando Novel Imperial Commando: 501st Star Wars Republic 78: Loyalties Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader Star Wars Dark Times: Parallels Star Wars Dark Times 13: Blue Harvest, Part 1 Evasive Action: Prey Evasive Action: End Game The Last of the Jedi: Underworld (Cover only) Star Wars Empire: "General" Skywalker Star Wars Empire: In the Shadows of Their Fathers Star Wars Rebellion: My Brother, My Enemy Star Wars: Rogue Squadron III: Rebel Strike [edit]Non-canon appearances LEGO Star Wars: The Video Game LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy (with cheat) LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga Kowakian Monkey-Lizard Giant spiders are awesome Always count your clones before take-off Star Wars: Republic Commando: Order 66 Old Wounds (Appears in flashback(s)) [edit]Sources

LAAT/i concept art by Ryan Church. Attack of the Clones: The Visual Dictionary Attack of the Clones: Incredible Cross-Sections Star Wars: Complete Cross-Sections The New Essential Guide to Vehicles and Vessels The Official Star Wars Fact File 63 (Republic Attack Gunship) The Official Star Wars Fact File 88 (Republic Attack Gunship) "Guide to the Grand Army of the Republic" - Star Wars Insider 84 The Clone Wars: The Visual Guide Star Wars PocketModel TCG: Ground Assault Star Wars PocketModel TCG: Clone Wars Star Wars PocketModel TCG: Clone Wars Tactics Republic attack gunship in the Databank Battlefront II: Prima Official Game Guide Star Wars Galaxies Trading Card Game – Champions of the Force (Card: Sai Cha) (Picture only) Galaxy at War [edit]Notes and references

↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Star Wars: Complete Cross-Sections ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 2.9 The Official Star Wars Fact File ↑ Star Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron ↑ 4.0 4.1 The Clone Wars: The Visual Guide ↑ 5.0 5.1 Star Wars: Battlefront ↑ 6.0 6.1 Battlefront II: Prima Official Game Guide ↑ Star Wars: Clone Wars DVD commentary