anti-vehicle laser cannon

• Appeared in:
  
  I
  II
  III
  IV
  V
  VI
  CW

• Affiliation:
  Rebel Alliance

• Manufacturer:
  Atgar SpaceDefense

• 

From the Movies

During the Battle of Hoth, the Rebel Alliance used its meager collection of laser artillery to delay the advancing Imperial forces. Mobile laser units such as these dish-shaped cannons delivered powerful blasts that were ultimately ineffective against the thick armor of the Imperial AT-AT walkers.

From the Expanded Universe

An antiquated weapon dating back to the Clone Wars, the Atgar 1.4 FD P-Tower is designed as an anti-vehicle cannon. The outdated device was mostly used by the Rebel Alliance during the Galactic Civil War, since the Empire had largely abandoned the P-Tower in favor of more advanced models.

The Atgar P-Tower has several shortcomings. It has a very low rate of fire due to inefficient power distribution. The dish assembly houses 16 micro-power routers that feed energy into the primary converter and cannon assembly. If any one of these 16 units were to malfunction, the entire cannon becomes disabled. Furthermore, the 2.8-meter tall cannon makes an easy target, with its circular dish nicely emulating a "bull's-eye" for eager enemy gunners. Thirdly, the cannon is voracious in its energy needs, depleting its standard batteries after just eight shots.

Among the P-Tower's merits, though, is a rugged dependability that sees it deployed to even the harshest environments. And despite its power hassles, once it actually generates a beam, the destructive power unleashed is formidable enough to disable even an AT-ST walker. Finally, the Atgar is very affordable, explaining its popularity among cash-strapped Rebel and mercenary units.

Behind the Scenes

Production notes for The Empire Strikes Back identified this particular weapon as a Rebel laser cannon (dish type). Schematic illustrations by Production Designer Norman Reynolds indicate that the dish portion was an existing metal piece around which the prop was built.