The All Terrain Scout Transport (AT-ST) is a two-legged mech walker introduced briefly in The Empire Strikes Back and featured extensively in Return of the Jedi.
Compositing the cloud cars into the original releases required multiple motion control passes to prevent the vehicles from standing out too distinctly from their cloudy background.
[4] Within the Star Wars universe, these cloud cars (formally identified as Storm IV Twin-Pod models) were built by Bespin Motors specifically as atmospheric patrol craft.
[8] Skiffs are a common mode of transport on many Star Wars worlds as per in-universe sources, utilizing repulsorlift technology to move cargo and passengers on the cheap.
[23] The models were built in three different scales by Steve Gawley, Charlie Bailey, and Mike Fulmer of ILM, with the smallest (20 inches) used for motion control photography, and the largest (2½ feet) for hero and pyrotechnic shots.
[24] All models included motor-controlled flaps to imply maneuverability, and the largest version also possessed motor-articulated crew[24] Several full-scale props were built in London for the hangar, cockpit, and speeder crash scenes.
[24] According to background sources, the Rebel Alliance received a small squadron of modified T-47 airspeeders – aircraft which utilize repulsorlifts to achieve flight – shortly after establishing Echo Base on Hoth.
[21] In The Empire Strikes Back, Rogue Squadron, led by Commander Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), pilots snowspeeders against Imperial AT-AT walkers during the Battle of Hoth.
[26] However, when the snowspeeders' weaponry proves incapable of piercing the assault walkers' thick armoring, Luke devises the unconventional strategy of using their tow cables to entangle the AT-ATs.
[21][26] Although Luke's gunner, Dak Ralter, is killed before he can try the maneuver himself, Wedge Antilles and Wes Janson succeed in tripping up an AT-AT with their snowspeeder and destroying it with a well-placed shot to its neck.
Early drafts of The Phantom Menace described the Trade Federation's invasion of Naboo being led by "armored attack craft" that resembled helicopters.
[38] First manufactured for the Trade Federation by the Baktoid Armor Workshop, the AAT floats above the ground thanks to anti-gravity "repulsorlift" technology and can achieve a top speed of 55 km/h (34 mph).
This "snail droid" was originally designed for Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones for the climactic Battle of Geonosis, but they did not make it into the final cut of the film.
[48] Formally identified in background material as the NR-N99 Persuader-class droid enforcer, these tanks are manufactured by the Techno Union and primarily used by the Corporate Alliance, which sides with the Separatists during the Clone Wars.
A pair of infrared photoreceptors on the armored brain casing allow the spider droid to see its surroundings while four articulated legs are designed to affix to the sides of cliffs so it may climb difficult terrain.
[54] Described by in-universe material as the Separatist counterpart to the Republic's LAAT, the Heavy Missile Platform droid gunship (or HMP Predator) is a heavily armed repulsorlift airspeeder which can be adapted for a wide range of mission profiles.
In-universe material identifies them as IG-227 Hailfire-class droid tanks produced by Haor Chall Engineering and commissioned for the InterGalactic Banking Clan prior to the Clone Wars to assist with debt collection.
Standing 6.8 m (22 ft) tall and capable of 45 km/h (28 mph), they consist of two large wheels with a low-fixed base on which is mounted a targeting photoreceptor, twin chin-mounted blaster cannons, and two missile launchers.
[61] The OG-9 homing spider droid appears in Attack of the Clones during the Battle of Geonosis and features in other Star Wars media, including as a playable vehicle in Battlefront II.
However he criticized it's apparent slow speed during the final battle in Attack of the Clones and argues that destroying one of its legs would quickly knock the robot out of a fight.
[61] The Multi-Troop Transports or MTTs made their first appearance in The Phantom Menace, carrying and deploying Trade Federation battle droids during the invasion of Naboo.
[65] Although the MTT was primarily created using computer-generated imagery (CGI), a scale model was also built to film certain scenes of The Phantom Menace, combining elements of practical and digital special effects.
The Expanded Universe describes the LAAT as a versatile multi-role aerospace crafts capable of reconfigured for the gunship, transport, starfighter, and bomber combat roles.
There are numerous LAAT variants: the LAAT/i infantry transport, the LAAT/c cargo carrier, the LAAT/s stealth special forces, the LAAT/le law enforcement for military police, and LAAT/v vehicle tactical airlift that carried AT-TEs.
[71][72] Lucas turned to footage of helicopter-troop deployment when conceiving the LAAT; the vehicle was originally labeled the "Jedi attack helicopter", a versatile gunship platform combining the functions of a black hawk a chinook and an Apache.
[79] Another variant, the LAAT/c (Low Altitude Assault Transport/carrier), is crewed by a single pilot and armed with just the nose-mounted cannons, but features a pair of magnetic clamps that can quickly ferry cargo or AT-TEs into battle.
The SPHA-T is armed with a heavy turbolaser cannon powerful enough to destroy a starship, though firing it requires vast amounts of energy which can quickly drain the SPHA-T.[59][81] Joe Pappalardo of Popular Mechanics has criticized the design of the SPHA for using legs compared to wheels or treads which would be easier to maintain.
[82] The STAP's design also relates back to Lucas' 1973 idea of ridable "jet-sticks" which appeared in early drafts of the original Star Wars movie.
[91] The life-sized model which appeared on the Rogue One set was based on a heavily modified flatbed Alvis Stormer piloted by experienced tank operators.
Two variants of the "Occupier" are employed by the Empire: the standard TX-225 GAVw utilizing a continuous track which makes it highly maneuverable in urban environments, and the TX-225 GAVr which hovers slightly above the ground on repulsorlifts.