The expanded B-Wing fighter, dubbed the B-Wing/E, was a later-model B-Wing designed for two crew members. Ackbar himself used a B-Wing/E2, a model two B-Wing/E.
The fighter was designed at Research Station Shantipole, an extremely secret Rebel outpost hidden deep within an asteroid field. At one time Imperial espionage agents had managed to discover its location, and had almost captured the specifications of the expanded B-Wing. Luckily they were stopped by Alliance operatives, and one year later the first B-Wing/E2 was produced by Slayn & Korpil.
In essence the B-Wing/E is the same as its predecessor, except that there is a gunner’s seat located behind the pilot’s. This meant that the cockpit had to be lengthened by three metres, which is the only real discernible difference between the B-Wing and B-Wing/E. The gunner increased the amount of kills per fighter, since it was previously up to the pilot to handle weapons and flying. In order to ensure the gunner can always find a target and not get disoriented by any quick manoeuvres made by the pilot, the gunner’s seat is in a compartment with its own gyro-stabilisation system. Ackbar’s own ship the gunnery seat next to the pilot. He used the space behind as a cargo compartment.
The expanded fighter can achieve speeds equal to that of the Y-Wing, making it faster than the standard B-Wing fighter. It is also tougher but less manoeuvrable, although stronger shields allow the B-Wing/E to withstand quite a bit more damage. The weapons are similar to that of the normal B-Wing, with two fire-linked laser cannons, three ion cannons and a proton torpedo launcher which carries a magazine of eight missiles. The later B-Wing/E2s carried a second launcher, also with a capacity of eight torpedoes, although technicians had designed a third removable launcher, which could be mounted on the neck of the fighter. This carried twelve proton torpedoes, which are fed straight into the two fixed launchers. It added an immense amount of firepower to the already well-armed fighter, but allowed it less manoeuvrability.