Across the Clone Wars, the Confederacy of Independent Systems relied heavily on strike
craft for versatility in space combat and close support during planetary invasions.
The nation employed a variety of both manned and unmanned craft from manufacturers across
the Separatist Alliance, creating a unique and versatile force that proved a deadly challenge
to the Republic Navy.
VARIABLE GEOMETRY SELF-PROPELLED ‘VULTURE’ BATTLE DROID MK1
The most ubiquitous and Widley produced strike craft employed by the CIS is undoubtedly the
Xi Charrian Variable Geometry Vulture Droid.
Constructed in precise religious rituals within the Cathedral Factories of Xi Char, the Vulture
Droid is a unmanned short-range fighter capable of extreme maneuvers that would prove lethal
to any biological pilot.
The fighters are relatively cheap to produce and employed in vast swarms, but at still
better armed and more individually effective than the grand majority of swarm craft, including
the later TIE Fighters of the Galactic Empire.
Vulture Droids are also capable of reconfiguring themselves into light walking tanks, useful
as infantry fighting vehicles on a planet’s surface, or as surplus defence craft magnetically
clamped to the hull of confederate warships.
The missile hardpoints of Vulture Droids are often used to carry Discord Missiles loaded
with Buzz Droids, adding further to their lethality in ship-to-ship combat.
HYENA CLASS DROID BOMBER Designed by the Baktoid Armor Workshop and
based on the Xi Charrian’s designs for the Vulture Droid, the Hyena-Class Strike Bomber
is an unmanned, heavily armed attack platform carrying a sizeable loadout of torpedoes,
missiles, proton bombs and laser cannons.
The ship maintains the low production cost of the Vulture Droid but suffers from decreased
manoeuvrability.
Hyena Bombers could be carried en masse and quickly resupplied, allowing for a near-constant
stream of bombing runs that could threaten even the largest warships.
The bombers saw heavy use across the Clone Wars and played important roles in many of
the most important Battles, including the invasion of Ryloth and the Battle of Scipio.
During ground attacks the vessels were also able to convert into walk mode in the same
manner as the Vulture Droid, though this feature was used sparingly to protect the important
bombers from harm.
ROGUE CLASS STARFIGHTER Adapted from the design of the Utapauan Porax-38
by the Baktoid Armor Workshop, the Rogue Class starfighter was more expensive and sophisticated
than most Confederate fighter craft, being reserved for use by IG-100 MagnaGuards and
experienced Separatist pilots.
The fighters were rarely seen outside of Confederate territory and most often used for territorial
defence.
The onboard hyperdrive of the Rogue Class gave the fighter an advantage missing from
most CIS Craft, allowing the vessels to perform solo or squadron missions without the assistance
of a warship.
The arrival of Rogue Class fighters to a battle was often interpreted by the Republic as a
sign that the Separatists had deployed their most elite pilots.
NANTEX CLASS TERRITORIAL DEFENCE FIGHTER Most often referred to simply as the “Geonosian
Starfighter”, the Huppla Pasa Tisc Shipwrights Nantex Class Defence Fighter was one of the
many contributions made by Geonosis to the confederacy in the build-up to the Clone Wars.
The fighter’s interface systems are complex and configured specifically for Geonosian
use, making them essentially impossible for non-Geonosian pilots to fly.
The Nantex was frightfully quick and deadly in combat, able to rush through a formation
and eliminate important targets such as LAAT gunships with ruthless efficiency.
Unfortunately, the confederate defeat at Geonosis in the opening moments of the Clone Wars,
and the failed subsequent rebellions by the Geonosian people, left the CIS with only their
original supply of Nantex Class fighters to deploy, resulting in their steady decline
in use across the war.
BELBULLAB-22 HEAVY STARFIGHTER Designed and constructed by Feethan Ottraw
Scalable Assemblies and sold to the Confederacy, the Belbullab-22 was a sturdy heavy-starfighter
used in very limited numbers by the CIS.
The fighter carried a class 6 hyperdrive and a powerful arsenal of weapons, often able
to face and defeat numerous Republic strike craft alone.
Easily the most famous example of the Belbullab-22 was General Grevious’s personal fighter,
the Soulless One.
The General’s fighter was heavily modified with a powerful holonet transceiver and improved
hyperdrive range, allowing Greivous to remain mobile while monitoring fleet activities and
delegating commands across the galaxy.
DROID TRI-FIGHTER Designed by the Colicoid Creation Nest and
modelled after the skull features of a deadly beast native to Colla IV, the Tri-Fighter
is one of the most effective unmanned fighter craft ever developed.
Used heavily in the final year of the Clone Wars, the ships were the smallest craft in
service to either the Republic or Confederate Navies, measuring only 5.4 Meters in length.
The ships carried the most advanced droid brains available to the CIS, and were able
to perform extremely advanced maneuvers in close quarters dogfights.
The small profile of the Tri-Fighter made it an infuriatingly difficult target for clone
pilots, and the ship’s acceleration allowed it to outrun every Republic strike craft in
service short of the Actis-Class Jedi Interceptor.
Unlike most strike craft used by the Confederacy, the Tri-Fighter was extremely expensive to
produce, and proved to be a serious drain on the Separatist treasury during the final
months of the war.
In spite of this, the limited supply of Tri-Fighters that were deployed were brutally effective,
gaining a fearful reputation among Clone Pilots.