AV-22 Landspeeder

"I don’t care how unfit for the mass market it is, this isn’t a speeder meant for your average driver anyway."

- Sigarr Halomek

The AV-22 Landspeeder is the successor to the AV-21 and is a high-performance landspeeder meant to push the envelope when it comes to speed for its vehicle type. While airspeeders and some swoops can top it in this department, the AV-22 easily leaves most landspeeders in the dust.

One of the keys to the AV-22’s remarkable speed is the specially designed 1.2LS Fusion Power Core that is essentially a modified airspeeder power core. This power is fed directly into the ARC-2 turbine engines, which are also specially designed to handle the enormous power output. Combined together, they make the AV-22 a force to be reckoned with.

The AV-22 has one other special feature to set it apart from other landspeeders, which is the Halo-1 repulsorlift generator, named after CEO Sigarr Halomek who drafted the bulk of the design. While the AV-22 typically stays within the 1 meter repulsorlift cushion common to most speeders, the Halo-1 generator allows it to reach a maximum height of 10 meters if desired. This was a special feature insisted upon by Sigarr, who felt that drivers of the AV-22 would want to go full-out without having to worry about obstacles on the ground.

The AV-22 is generally marketed as a toy for the wealthy and remains profitable in that niche thanks to the landspeeder’s features. On occasion, however, REC will run holonet specials for the AV-22 to give less well-off members of the galaxy the chance to own one of these craft. Once again this is due to Sigarr, a racer himself, who likes to give beings like him who crave speed, a chance to own one of the fastest speeders around.

=History= The AV-21 Landspeeder was a prototype initially developed by Alliance Underground Engineering during the early days of the Galactic Civil War. The AV-21 was never mass-produced as it served as a test-bed of sorts for developments that would go into later craft used by the Rebel Alliance. While it was a capable high-performance landspeeder, the design was ultimately shelved as the war grew in intensity.

Several years later, with the formation of the Republic Engineering Corporation, all the designs developed by Alliance Underground Engineering became the property of REC, including that of the AV-21. The company’s CEO, Sigarr Halomek, a fan of the AV-21, decided that an improved version of the speeder could be created; one that focused solely on speed and nothing else. It would become known as the AV-22.

Several new technologies were incorporated into the AV-22 to fulfill Sigarr’s dream of the ultimate speedster. Sigarr himself ironed out many of the bugs in the first design and streamlined the inner-workings. He also contributed greatly to the Halo-1 repulsorlift generator that would eventually become a part of the AV-22. The finished product kept the same frame as the AV-21 as a tribute to the original.

The first production run was completed in anticipation of the capture of Coruscant by the New Republic in 8 ABY. Sigarr, ever the shrewd businessman, released the AV-22 as a sort of “celebratory” design to mark the huge victory and even sent a few customized AV-22’s to key members of the Republic as gifts. He also entered the AV-22 in races across the galaxy, many times with himself as the driver, to demonstrate the landspeeder’s capabilities.

Since its introduction, the AV-22’s sales have been limited but always steady, and constitute another success for Sigarr’s stellar record.