TIE Advanced

Faced with a daring attack on their seemingly unstoppable Death Star battle station by tiny Rebel starfighters, the Empire was willing to trust the technological giant to crush the smaller foe. Yet for all its power, the Death Star's ponderous turbolaser cannons could not track the swift Rebel fighters. One person saw the pride in the Death Star as misplaced -- Darth Vader, Dark Lord of the Sith. Unwilling to underestimate the Rebel threat, Vader personally commanded a hand-picked squadron of TIE fighters into battle. As the Imperial fighter craft screamed into space, Vader sat at the controls of his own customized fighter. Unlike the standard TIE, Vader's had larger, angular wings. The rear engine was considerably longer, and the support struts connecting the cockpit ball to the wings were much thicker than standard.

Vader was responsible for the death of many Rebel pilots in the assault. A well-placed shot from the Millennium Falcon's laser cannons destroyed one of Vader's wingmen. In the confusion that followed, the remaining wingman collided with Vader's ship, sending the Dark Lord spinning out of control into space.

Developed to Darth Vader's specifications, Sienar Fleet Systems constructed the TIE Advanced x1 as a predecessor to their later cutting edge fighters, the TIE Avenger and the TIE interceptor. Like the standard TIE fighter, the x1 prototype features powerful twin laser cannons and two solar gather panels that provide power to the ship's systems. Twin ion engines propel the craft at amazing speeds.

Unlike the standard TIE/ln starfighter, the x1 had a much more robust spaceframe, with reinforced durasteel-alloy hull, providing greater protection from enemy fire and stability during strenuous maneuvers. Also, abandoning previous Imperial design policies, considerable resources were spent to make the TIE Advanced hyperspace-capable, and the fighter was even equipped with deflector shields.

In the end, the TIE Advanced proved too expensive to mass-produce. It continued to be an elite fighter craft assigned only to certain squadrons. Imperial Navy scuttlebutt has it that the higher echelons of officers were wary at promoting a starfighter with shields and hyperdrive, since it would undermine the use of capital ships as launch platforms. Rather than see the capital ship budget slashed, the TIE Advanced was sacrificed instead.

Years after the Battle of Yavin, enough TIE Advanced fighters had been produced to end up on the open market. Lando Calrissian, a private citizen of the New Republic, used a modified version of the fighter for spectator sports in the Dubrillion asteroid belt.

Darth Vader's TIE fighter is dramatically different from the standard TIE to allow moviegoers to instantly recognize it in battle. Although featured in computer games and comics, thus far the TIE Advanced has only appeared in one movie, A New Hope.