The BTL-A4 Series Y-Wing, was developed by Koensayr Manufacturing to serve as the mainstay
attack bomber of the Galactic Republic during the Clone Wars.
The vessel was considered to be supremely dependable, and was extremely popular with
its pilots and gunners, this popularity continued into the civilian market when the bomber was
made commercially available at the end of the Clone Wars, and the ship became one of
the most abundant combat spacecraft in the civilised galaxy, serving with pirates, privateers,
planetary governments and most notably, the Rebel Alliance.
23.4 Meters long with a wingspan of 16.24 Meters, the BTL-A4 had gone through numerous
changes from its original design by the time of the Battle of Scarif.
The version used by the Rebel Alliance lacked any external panelling, as alliance engineers
felt the armor provided so little protection, that the best choice was to simply remove
it completely to drastically increase the speed of maintenance and repairs.
The large silhouette of the Y-Wing, coupled with its lack of armor, made the ship even
more reliant on an effective fighter escort than most strike bombers, but once even a
small group of Y-Wings were able to reach their target intact, the level of sheer destructive
power they were able to bring to bear on even the largest capital ships, made the bombers
an invaluable asset to the Rebellion.
Though the exact placement of laser hardpoints on the Y-Wing’s frame has changed between
the Clone Wars and the Galactic Civil War, the weapons systems themselves have remained
much the same.
Fixed to the nose of the ship, a pair of medium laser cannons provide the bomber with a means
of self-defence against hostile strike craft, as well as eliminating small and poorly armoured
subsystems on enemy warships or installations.
When the craft was originally put into service at the outbreak of the Clone Wars, it was
outfitted with a dorsal ion turret, operated by the bomber’s co-pilot from within a small
transparisteel bubble, this was intended as a means of disabling the computer brains of
confederate Vulture Droids, so as to leave them dead in space and unable to intercept
the Y-Wing before it could reach its target, when the craft fell into the hands of the
alliance they kept the ion turret, but removed the co-pilot and transparisteel dome, preferring
instead to remotely operate the ion weapons from the pilot’s console, thereby removing
the possibility of explosive decompression, should the turret be destroyed by weapons
fire.
Being a dedicated torpedo bomber, the Y-Wing is naturally capable of carrying a variety
of warheads, all of which are launched from a pair of integrated Arakyd-Flex torpedo tubes
beneath the bomber’s nose.
The vessel is equipped with an extensive suite of targeting computers and quickscan imaging
systems, all of which are maintained and operated by an onboard Astromech Droid, and as a result
the bomber is capable of delivering ordinance with lethal precision, destroying the defensive
towers of hostile installations, or disabling large warships with salvos of Ion Torpedoes.
Across its long service, the Y-Wing has participated in countless engagements, and on numerous
occasions the bombers have been directly responsible for ensuring victory over the enemy.
During the first year of the Clone Wars in 22 BBY, the Y-Wings of Shadow Squadron were
responsible for disabling the weapons systems of the Subjugator Class Warship Malevolence,
ultimately saving the lives of 60,000 non-combatants, aboard the Kaliida Shoals Medical Station,
and over two decades later in the Battle of Scarif, the Alliance Y-Wings of Gold Squadron,
disabled the Imperial Star Destroyer Persecutor using Ion Torpedoes, allowing rebel admiral
Raddus to order the ramming maneuver that would facilitate the capture of the death
star plans.
Across many decades of service in the navies of multiple galactic powers, the BTL-A4 Y-Wing
has more than proven its worth as a reliable and effective strike bomber, and having played
a crucial part in the respective downfalls of both the Confederacy of Independent Systems,
and the Galactic Empire, the bomber is without a doubt the most successful and historically
significant vessel ever to roll off the assembly line at Koensayr Manufacturing.