Built by FreiTek Inc., the E-Wing Fighter was introduced during the time of Grand Admiral Thrawn’s campaign against the New Republic. It saw action again with great success when the Emperor came back from the dead to retake the galaxy.
Former Incom designers had come up with the E-Wing, and it was them who were also responsible for the incredible X-Wing. FreiTek knew it had a great fighter in the E-Wing, and it did not take long for the New Republic to realise this too. Republic pilots were immediately convinced of the fighter’s potential, hailing it as the new A-Wing. Indeed, it was given a similar mission profile to its wedge-shaped predecessor: protect Republic convoys form raids.
The E-Wing’s hull is stronger than that of the X-Wing, meaning it can withstand much more damage and still complete missions. It rivalled the TIE interceptor for speed and manoeuvrability, while still have a stronger hull and shields. The weapons made the fighter an excellent medium assault craft, as well as a superb close-support fighter. The starfighter has three laser cannons which are fire-linked; one on each wing and the third right above the cockpit. But its greatest punch comes from its sixteen proton torpedoes. These can severely damage, if not cripple, military installations and enemy starships. This allowed the Republic’s strategists another option if B-Wings proved to cumbersome or slow to complete the objectives.
Unlike the X-Wing, E-Wing fighters have their wings fixed in position. Some technicians and strategists thought that movable-wing fighters were more suitable for combat, but FreiTek proved them wrong with the E-Wing; the fighter turned out to be superior to any movable-wing craft. A great advantage of the E-Wing is that it can be fixed easily and quickly. One of the fighters can be repaired or rebuilt in half the time it would take to perform the same task on an X-Wing.
Unfortunately, the advancement of the E-Wing meant that new astromech droids had to be used to interface with the fighters. Industrial Automaton R7 astromech droids were brought to the fore, as they were designed to specifically handle the new computer and hyperdrive interfaces of the E-Wing. R2 droids started to become obsolete, although there were still many pilots who preferred the good old X-Wings.
At first the laser cannons of the E-Wing under-achieved in combat. They did not have the range they were supposed to have, as they were using synthetically spin-coiled Tibanna gas. This quickly broke down after firing, and the range was greatly reduced. Republic technicians had not found a cure to this problem by the time of the Battle of Calamari, and so rigged up a quick-fix solution. They made the laser cannons accept three times their normal power. This temporarily solved the problem, but made the risk of a terminal power overload very high. A way around the laser cannon problem is still being investigated, but for now these modified E-Wings have been dubbed the E-Wing: Type B. It is quite possible that the Type C will eventually see the end of the Empire, and peace at last in the galaxy.