The Imperial Forces are the armed forces of the Galactic Empire in the fictional Star Wars universe.

Contents

Composition and mission

The Imperial Forces are composed of the Imperial Army, the Imperial Navy, the Imperial Stormtroopers, and Imperial Intelligence. They are all responsible for carrying out military operations throughout the galaxy as well as maintaining order on Imperial member worlds, governorships, colonies, and protectorates.

The Imperial Forces were massive. There were millions of ships comprising the Navy. The Imperial Stormtroopers first began as the clones the Galactic Republic used to fight the clone wars, but as the Empire progressed a larger and larger percentage became volunteers. A special branch of stormtroopers, dubbed "Vader's Fist," helped Darth Vader from the beginning of his service in the Galactic Empire. They, for a while at least, were the only pure clone unit of soldiers that served the Empire. The 501st's story was portrayed in the recently released video game: Star Wars: Battlefront II as the campaign mode, spanning from its creation during The Clone Wars through the creation of the Galactic Empire and the birth of the Rebel Alliance all the way to the Empire's victory and glory.

Forces

Imperial Army troopers

Imperial Army Troopers are the standard infantry of the Imperial Army. They are the most common soldiers of the Empire on most subject worlds. While Stormtroopers are sent to crush revolts or capture enemy territory, Imperial Army Troopers are used to keep the peace in subject worlds. Their uniform is similar to that of the Imperial Navy Troopers but it is grey instead of black and Army Troopers wear a partial armour on their upper bodies for protection. Their weapons are a blaster rifle and grenades. Also, Imperial Army troopers are based on Imperial Naval vessels, and fulfill various functions there. It should also be noted that these soldiers resemble real world military personnel the most in comparison to other Imperial military divisions.

Imperial Dungeoneers

In the Expanded Universe, the corps of Imperial Dungeoneers handles the legions of prisoners, criminal, political, and Force-sensitive that the Empire inevitably puts its hands on. Even the most secure prison or Imperial dungeon ship needs trained specialists in incarceration to supplement the mechanical devices and the droids who manage the prisoners. Dungeoneers are rarely assigned to non-critical or unimportant prisoners- they are reserved for critical and dangerous prisoners: when the Reborn Emperor abducted the Jedi Luke Skywalker, ten dungeoneers, along with Imperial Sentinels and Sovereign Guards) were used to escort Luke when he was being transferred.

The dungeoneers are specially trained and equipped to work in incarceration settings. In normal situations, they wear light trooper gear with stunner pistols and immobilizing grenades (this gear is borrowed from the Imperial Army). In threatening, high-security situations, such as transporting a Jedi or during prisoner uprisings, dungeoneers switch to blasters, riot guns, and full body armor with internal comlinks customized to transmit vital signals, and a full audio/video feed of everything the Dungeoneer sees to the central command.

Dungeoneers are also equipped with a motion-sensor so as not to be taken unaware in the confines of ship corridors. The armor is unique in that it requires a key to both put on and take off, and the key is never removed from the barracks; this is a further hindrance to would-be escapees. The armor usually has air-filters built in, since standard procedure in an Imperial prison calls for various neural and hallucinogenic gases to be released as a failsafe measure. While the light armor simply provides a breath filter, the heavy armor is more akin to a spacesuit in its self-contained, independent ability. Dungeoneers also use wristbinders, neuronic whips, and high-powered blaster rifles.

References

* Dark Empire, trade paperback, 1993. Tom Veitch, ISBN 1-56971-073-2

* The Dark Empire sourcebook, Wizards of the Coast, 1st edition, 1993. Horne, Michael, ISBN 0-87431-194-2

Imperial gunners

Imperial gunners were members of the Imperial fighter corps who manned the various weapons of the Empire's capital ships, military bases and most famously, on the Death Stars. Imperial gunners first appeared in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope and later in Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi.

The Imperial Gunnery Corps often consisted of recuits from the fighter corps that were either still in training or washed out. They were tasked to use their skills with weapons to handle the powerful turbolasers and ion cannons of Imperial vessels such as Star Destroyers. On both Death Stars, the gunners (often called Death Star gunners) or death squadron, had the additional job of maintaining a careful balance of energy in the battle station's superlaser.

The most distinguishing part of the gunners were their large black helmets with a slit-like visor, designed to protect their eyes from the bright flashes of light from turbolaser and superlaser fire.

Imperial Navy troopers

Imperial navy troopers were a well-trained and deadly corps assigned by the Imperial Navy to serve as guards and soldiers aboard its many Star Destroyers. They wore a black protective helmet and a black uniform, and their primary weapon was a blaster pistol. They are also known as Death Star troopers because they first appeared in A New Hope as security guards onboard the Death Star, as well as Death Squad Commanders. Besides serving the Empire as soldiers and security guards, they handled hangar control traffic, monitored sensor arrays, and other duties when their combat skills were not needed. They appear in the first three Star Wars movies: A New Hope, Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, as well as The Star Wars Holiday Special.

Imperial marines

The Imperial Marines are infantry troops serving aboard Imperial Navy ships that were introduced in the video game Star Wars: Battlefront II. They are armed with a blaster rifle, rocket launcher and thermal detonator and are recognized by the orange shoulder pauldron they wear.

They are experts in combat and sabotage aboard capital ships as well as being able to deploy in small tactical squads and cause massive damage to the ships and kill or capture everyone aboard an enemy vessel.

Imperial pilots

An Imperial pilot operating a TIE Fighter.

Imperial pilots are the soldiers who fly Imperial craft such as TIE Fighters and TIE Bombers of the Imperial Navy. They made their first appearance in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope.

Imperial Pilots are featured in the games Star Wars: Battlefront and Star Wars: Battlefront II.

Imperial stormtroopers

Main article: Imperial Stormtrooper

Imperial stormtroopers are extensively trained shock troops. Stormtroopers are used as strike units against enemies of the Empire and are the primary Imperial soldiers in the original Star Wars trilogy.

These highly-disciplined soldiers answer directly to Emperor Palpatine. Stormtroopers, as a third service, are independent of the Imperial Navy or the Imperial Army chains of command, as they have their own command structure, ranking system and support facilities. However, a company commander can give command to any regular officer over any given squad or platoon. Their organizational manners are similar to those of the Imperial Army. The basic unit of organization is the squad.

Each stormtrooper is assigned a number for tactical purposes and to reinforce the Imperial ethic of uniformity. TK-421 was the number of the stormtrooper whose armor Luke wore aboard the Death Star. (For instance, TIE fighter pilots are not attached to any particular craft, as opposed to the contemporary practice of pilots adorning their ships with personalized markings.)

Fans who recreate the armour and weapons of the stormtroopers often join local and regional chapters of the 501st Legion.

The Stormtrooper effect, a common cliché in action movies, was named after these fictional soldiers.

Imperial Sentinel

Imperial Sentinels were gigantic, armored and cloaked warriors in the Star Wars' Dark Empire storyline, who guarded Emperor Palpatine's Dark Side Adepts, doing their bidding. They were most often seen in the Emperor's Citadel on Byss. Their origins were an impenetrable secret to all but the Dark Side Adepts; even the Sovereign Protectors could only speculate on the Sentinel's origins'. Some believed them to be droids or some sort of cyborg, perhaps created from an obscure and enslaved race of giants.