From the Movies
An intimidating armored assault vehicle, the All Terrain Tactical Enforcer (AT-TE) saw its explosive debut on the battlefields of Geonosis, at the start of the Clone Wars. Specialized Republic drop ships carried the lumbering walker craft into the thick of combat, unleashing them to crawl inexorably toward enemy fortifications.
The walker features six articulated legs for propulsion. The legs are low to the ground, which reduces the walker's top speed but does provide it with increased stability. The body of the walker consists of two armored halves connected by a flexible sleeve that increases its mobility on the field.
The front of the walker is lined with four ball-turret laser cannons, while a single heavy projectile cannon is turret-mounted on the vehicle's dorsal surface. Its rear fire arc is protected by a pair of laser cannon turrets. Though the walker's armor can easily deflect small arms fire, tanksmasher rockets can pierce an AT-TE's armor and destroy its complex propulsion mechanisms.
From the Expanded Universe
The base AT-TE design was originally built to help mining companies maintain order on far-flung worlds, but the design was extensively revised for combat applications.
The six legs of the AT-TE move the low-built vehicle at speeds of up to 60 kilometers per hour. Contained within its armored hull are 20 clone troopers ready to disembark for combat at a moment's notice. It requires a crew of one pilot, one spotter, and four gunners or support crewmen. An additional exterior gunner controls the projectile cannon.
The walker's plodding pace allows it to penetrate energy shields, which are effective at deflecting the high-velocity repulsorlift systems of flying or hovering craft. The AT-TE's armor is supplemented by electromagnetic shielding that protects the walker from ion cannon or EMP attacks. The walker, like the rest of the clone army's heavy armor, was developed in secret at Rothana Heavy Engineering, a clandestine subsidiary of Kuat Drive Yards.
Behind the Scenes
The AT-TE walker was a late addition in the Episode II post-production mix, envisioned by Concept Design Supervisor Ryan Church as the technological predecessor of the AT-AT walkers seen in
The Empire Strikes Back. It fell to Animation Supervisor Rob Coleman's group to animate the computer-generated AT-TEs. One of the animators, Tom St. Amand, had previously worked on the stop-motion animation of the classic walkers back during
Empire's production, and was able to offer his experience and insight into replicating a similar look and feel in CG. During production, the AT-TE walker was identified as "clone walker."
