Ca ressemble beaucoup à un chasseur Chiss...
Nssis-class Clawcraft
Nssis-class Clawcraft
Production information Manufacturer Unknown (probably
shipyards in the territory of the
Empire of the Hand and later the
Chiss Ascendancy)
Product line
TIE series relative
Model
Nssis-class Clawcraft
Class
Starfighter
Technical specifications Length 7.65 meters
Maximum acceleration 3,800 G
Maximum speed (atmosphere) 1,000 km/h
Engine unit(s)
SFS ion engines
Hyperdrive rating Class 1.5
Shielding Equipped
Navigation system Chiss
hyperspace beacon system (
navigation computer could be installed as an upgrade)
Armament 4 SFS
L-s7.2 laser cannons
Crew 1 pilot
Passengers None
Cargo capacity 25 kilograms
Consumables 1 week
Usage Role(s) Space superiority fighter
Era(s)
New Jedi Order era
Affiliation
[Hide] "
You have to admire the Chiss. They don't just steal your technology—they make it better." — Anonymous
Imperial engineer The
Nssis-class Clawcraft was a
starfighter normally associated with the
Chiss, but in fact was a hybrid development of standard
Imperial technology.
The fuselage was based on the ubiquitous "ball cockpit" of the
TIE series of Imperial
starfighters, with a
Sienar ion drive pod mounted on the rear, but stemming from the junction of cockpit and drive pod were two pair of curving wings which thrust out like an
X-wing's
strike-foils, and then extended forward in a claw-like grip around the cockpit. At the tip of each wing was a Sienar
L-s7.2 laser cannon.
With modest deflector
shields and thicker hull armor, Clawcraft were slower at
sublight speeds than their
TIE Fighter progenitors, although the ion engines allowed the ship to achieve an atmospheric speed of 1,000 kilometers per hour, and a respectable sublight acceleration of almost forty thousand meters per second. Clawcraft made up for their lower sublight speed by greater maneuverability. Each curved wing could make minor position adjustments and was paired with a mounted control jet to allow a Clawcraft’s pilot to throw the ship into sharp turns and complex maneuvers.
A Chiss Clawcraft.
A unique
hyperspace beacon system allowed a Clawcraft to make lightspeed jumps without an on-board
navigation computer, enabling it to function as a long-range craft while significantly reducing the weight, size and complexity of non-combat equipment carried. But the starfighter's dependance on navigational data transmitted from a nexus of anchor points also restricted the area in which most Clawcraft could operate. For long-range deployment, ships of this class typically had to travel with specialist
beacon ships, until by
28 ABY, new variants began to enter service, featuring on-board navicomps for the first time.
Nssis-class Clawcraft were often associated in the public imagination with the
Chiss Expansionary Defense Force, but although the basic term "clawcraft" would appear to be a Chiss one, and fighters so described were used as trainers at by cadets at Chiss military academies as early as
19 ABY, there is no direct evidence that these ships incorporated the TIE technology of the
Nssis-class. In fact, the design lineage and operational history of the classic Clawcraft connects the type far more closely with the forces loyal to
Grand Admiral Thrawn. Part of the confusion stems from the fact that Thrawn's
Household Phalanx was largely staffed by Chiss personnel—but this unit was a "rogue phalanx" operating independently of the CEDF, commanded by Imperial General
Soontir Fel, and operated alongside the stormtroopers and line military units of the
Empire of the Hand.
By
19 ABY, pilots from the Household Phalanx were using long-range
scout vessels combining TIE cockpits and drives with alien technology in a manner that bear an obvious similarity to the Clawcraft, and it is known that the Empire of the Hand was using some form of Clawcraft as combat fighters by
22 ABY, at which point the
Chiss Ascendancy was still apparently refusing to adapt non-Chiss technology. The
Nssis-class was revealed to the wider galaxy in
26 ABY, when three squadrons of
Chiss pilots from the Household Phalanx fought at
Garqi and
Ithor. A part of this force continued to fight alongide
Rogue Squadron until at least the battle of
Kalarba, and after the
fall of
Coruscant, a wing-pair of Household Phalanx Clawcraft were sent back to scout by Baron Fel, joined later by several squadrons of combat pilots, who fought alongside the
Galactic Federation of Free Alliances until the end of the war.
A few
Nssis-class ships were seen in Chiss space in
29 ABY, by which time unknown political developments in the
Unknown Regions had led to Baron Fel becoming Assistant
Syndic of the CEDF; but it was not until the clashes with the
Killik Colony in
36 ABY and
38 ABY that the familiar Clawcraft categorically appeared in large numbers in CEDF forces.
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Behind the scenes
A Chiss Clawcraft, apparently with the moons of
Rhigar in the background.
As originally introduced in
Dark Tide II: Ruin, the Clawcraft seems to have been intended as a hybrid Chiss/Imperial design flown by Chiss pilots allied with Imperial forces in the Unknown Regions, independent of the Chiss government. Author
Michael A. Stackpole may have also intended the wings to be more sharp-edged and angular than those depicted in subsequent illustrations. Later novels and guidebooks associated the Clawcraft instead with the Chiss Ascendancy, leading to a number of minor continuity problems. Various fan theories have been advanced to solve these problems, but as yet, no clear explanation has been given.
Most notably, this article cautiously suggests that the Clawcraft described in the short story
Red Sky, Blue Flame were purely Chiss designs, as the text makes no reference to TIE cockpits or Imperial technology, and the novel
Survivor's Quest implies that the Chiss military was not using foreign technology in this timeframe; but it should be noted that the associated
image shows a
Nssis-class fighter, with a TIE-style cockpit.
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Appearances
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Sources