I-wing

The I-wing is an experimental, high-performance starfighter designed to make quick strikes on enemy shipping and overwhelm enemy starfighters by superior firepower. In many ways, New Republic strategists have considered it to be the Republic's equivalent to the Tie Defender: it embodies many of the nation's design concepts into one product and takes it up a notch. Consequently, it may see use by elite NR squadrons much like the Tie Defender is for the Imperial Navy. Yet the I-wing is in many ways the opposite of the Tie Defender. Where the Tie Defender uses miniaturization to try and fit many standard components into a tiny hull, the I-wing uses a large hull to fit standard and nonstandard components taken from not only the New Republics experience, but those of its member cultures as well.

The fuselage of the craft is composed of a ferrocarbon frame for high-stress structure and is covered in lightweight but durable duraplast. This affords the ship moderately above average armor. This hull is protected by a pair of equally moderately powerful shield generators. Like many Mon Calamari ships, there is an identical pair of backup shields in case of catastrophic shield failure. A single, large fusial thrust engine, similar to those used on the A-wing, occupies most of the fuselage's space. This makes the ship fairly fast, but not very maneuverable. In order to compensate for this flaw, the designers added a pair of rear stabilizer wings which each contained a set of maneuvering thrusters. To further enhance this thrusters, they mounted both of them on a single, 360 degree track that allows them to rotate around the ship to improve performance as dictated by the ship's computers. Typically, these wings start in the neutral position, which is parallel to the main wings (hence the forward profile of the ship appears to be an "I" on its side). Yet for all of these innovations, the ship is still only as maneuverable as the venerable Tie Fighter. Still, few Republic fighters have the I-wings combination of high speed and reasonable agility. The fighter's also notable for its inclusion of a SLAM system, capable of taking the fighter at up to speeds of 300 MGLT briefly, and slightly faster than normal hyperdrive based on those used in the first set of New Class vessels.

The I-wing really shines in its array of weapons. Its weakest weapons are a pair of Gyrhil 72 autoblasters mounted on a chin turret near the front of the ship. Most of the time, these are locked forward and used like most laser cannons in space battles. However, the astromech droid or the pilot can also use them to precisely strafe ground targets or track and engage high-speed targets like enemy missiles. Its next pair of weapons are a pair of heavy autoblasters that can be linked to a supercharging mechanism with enhanced cooling system (to lessen the chance of an overload). While not terribly accurate, their high rate of fire and longer than normal range makes them potent weapons in the right hands. But perhaps the most deadly weapons the I-wing possesses is a pair of Verpine Shatter gun cannons. These are little more than oversized versions of the handheld Verpine shatter gun ruggerized for use in space. They typically have a high rate of penetration on starfighter craft, and are capable of hitting saturating large, slow targets from many kilometers away. Perhaps more importantly, they can use many types of ammunition, allowing their weapons loadout to be changed for various missions. Typically, these are simple durasteel slugs, but they can also fire many small grenades(at reduced power levels), explosive-tipped rounds, incendiary rounds, flechete rounds, and small magnetic conner nets such as the SoroSuub Type IV. Several pilots and techs are also experimenting with projectiles of their own making, but their use is very limited and often frowned upon by commanders worried about their expensive experimental fighters getting damaged. Lastly, like the X-wing, the ship carries a pair of Krupx MG7 Proton Torpedo Launchers with six proton torpedoes.

While the I-wing is an exceedingly destructive and capable craft, very few are in service at this moment in time due to their high cost and unproven nature. To complicate matters, because of their many unique and complex components, I-wings are something of a maintenance and repair nightmare. Only a single squadron, Cavalier squadron, has been outfitted with I-wings to see actual combat. Cavalier squadron is set to join Task Force Audacious and is a currently assigned to Fort Audacious as part of the inter-department Project 7 Initiative.