X-wing

The X-wing, a fictional starfighter in the Star Wars universe, is the main all-purpose craft of the Rebel Alliance. In A New Hope, the X-wing was the craft that Luke Skywalker used to destroy the Empire's first Death Star.

The Sikorsky X-wing, an experimental helicopter-fixed wing aircraft hybrid developed in the 1980s, was likely named for the fictional craft.

The X-wing pilots of Rogue Squadron are the subject of several series of novels and video games. The craft is also used extensively in the X-wing computer game series. It is reasonably manoeuverable and carries four laser cannons, along with tubes for proton torpedoes or concussion missiles.

X-wings have pairs of wing-like "space foils", or S-foils, mounted at the rear of the craft; normally the foils on each side are locked flush against each other, but during combat the foils are folded out to increase the spread coverage of the laser cannons mounted at the tips of the foils. This gives the craft its distinctive "X"-like appearance when viewed from the front or rear. The cannons cannot be fired with the S-foils in locked position.

The X-wing's lasers have various settings:

• Single fire, where laser fires individually;
• Dual fire, where two lasers, one on each side, pair up and the pairs fire alternately; or
• Quad fire, where all four lasers (one at each foil-tip) fire together, converging on the target.

The fighter has cockpit space for one pilot, assisted by a droid (such as an R2 unit[?]) in an external socket which monitors the status of the craft and can make emergency repairs.

The X-wing was originally designed by Incom Corporation[?] for the Empire, but the entire engineering team defected to the Rebel Alliance with the prototypes.

A LucasArts computer game "X-Wing" was made that is based on this spacecraft. See X-wing computer game series.

External links

• Star Wars Databank | X-wing starfighter (http://www.starwars.com/databank/starship/xwing/index.html)