Did anyone read the text in the Rebel starfighter page? It makes no sense and looks like a hodge podge of paragraphs from elsewhere, some of which are not even about spaceships.

I'm glad they aren't introducing a ton of new stuff into Rogue One. It's set just before a ANH. If they bring in all these new, kick ass fighters etc. it leads to the inevitable question of "Why wasn't this stuff used in ANH, ESB, ROTJ etc."

Now, we all know why - because of the order in which the films were made. But it still jars from an in-film universe and continuity perspective.

The question of "why wasn't this stuff used in ANH, ESB, ROTJ etc" could always be answered by some "empire was chasing down and blowing up rebel stuff" hand-waving. The U-Wing squadrons were all decimated in the battle of blah, blah, blah....

I'm glad they aren't introducing a ton of new stuff into Rogue One. It's set just before a ANH. If they bring in all these new, kick ass fighters etc. it leads to the inevitable question of "Why wasn't this stuff used in ANH, ESB, ROTJ etc."

Now, we all know why - because of the order in which the films were made. But it still jars from an in-film universe and continuity perspective.

The question of "why wasn't this stuff used in ANH, ESB, ROTJ etc" could always be answered by some "empire was chasing down and blowing up rebel stuff" hand-waving. The U-Wing squadrons were all decimated in the battle of blah, blah, blah....

Looking at the TIE striker's supporting information it seems like it might be primarily an atmospheric craft, hence the wings being more aerodynamic. There's no land battle in ANH, in ESB aircraft were kept out by the deflector shield, hence the need for a walker assault rather than bombing it, and in RotJ there was no sky battle because of the canopy cover.

Did anyone read the text in the Rebel starfighter page? It makes no sense and looks like a hodge podge of paragraphs from elsewhere, some of which are not even about spaceships.

Placeholder text. See the "NOT FINAL" flags in the corners

So I guess we should take the images with a grain of salt too.

I do really like the Uwing. It has the Ywing's cockpit which I always loved and the Xwing's engines slapped onto the side. What I honestly think it is (If it's in the movie) is a rebel's "Ugly" that they made with parts from ships they own and tried to make an optimized ship for the Death Star mission.

I think the U-Wing looks like a snowspeeder plowed straight down the middle of an X-Wing and lobbed off the wings. Which I'm not saying it bad. Just what it looks like to me

****, it's ugly.

Could be worse, I mean we've all seen the disaster of Episode VII...

My mad paint skillz attemp at making it look a bit better:

I hope they designed the ship first and named it U-wing later when they noticed it looks kinda like U, not the other way around, alphabet fighters are one of the most idiotic aspects of the old EU.

Blegh, can't say that I like either one of them particularly. I don't see why a tie striker would be any better than a standard tie at flying in an atmosphere as it still doesn't look as if it has good aerodynamics.. not with that flat cockpit at least!

If your old enough, it's clear where the u-wing design came from.

Hopefully they also go for greasy sleeveless pilots for it as well.

Bedee bedee bedee bedee hey buck!

Mmmm...dat Wilma Deering tho.

Blegh, can't say that I like either one of them particularly. I don't see why a tie striker would be any better than a standard tie at flying in an atmosphere as it still doesn't look as if it has good aerodynamics.. not with that flat cockpit at least!

At a minimum, this new variant looks less likely to tear its wings off when it performs a rudder turn.

****, it's ugly.

Could be worse, I mean we've all seen the disaster of Episode VII...

My mad paint skillz attemp at making it look a bit better:

I hope they designed the ship first and named it U-wing later when they noticed it looks kinda like U, not the other way around, alphabet fighters are one of the most idiotic aspects of the old EU.

That looks way better.

****, it's ugly.

Could be worse, I mean we've all seen the disaster of Episode VII...

My mad paint skillz attemp at making it look a bit better:

I hope they designed the ship first and named it U-wing later when they noticed it looks kinda like U, not the other way around, alphabet fighters are one of the most idiotic aspects of the old EU.

That looks way better.

i cant wait for the Jwing.

The evolution:

And I know the ETA-3 is not canon, but it fits.

But don't the V-wings make the twin ion engine noise at the end of Revenge of the Sith? And they have the same vertical panels as the Jedi's Eta-2 Actis interceptors. So it seems to me that the jedi starfighter from AotC --> Eta-2 Actis Interceptor --> V-wing --> TIE Fighter.

I'm really hoping the Tie Striker is an elite type fighter, that maybe the Black Armor guys use? somethings like the TAP, where only Inquisitors really use them.

The evolution:

And I know the ETA-3 is not canon, but it fits.

But don't the V-wings make the twin ion engine noise at the end of Revenge of the Sith? And they have the same vertical panels as the Jedi's Eta-2 Actis interceptors. So it seems to me that the jedi starfighter from AotC --> Eta-2 Actis Interceptor --> V-wing --> TIE Fighter.

I would say that the lineage of fighters is a bit of cross pollination from several sources. Delta-7 and Eta-2 are carried over into the A-wing and TIE Fighter, as well as the Advanced TIEs (even borrowing from the much earlier Sith Infiltrator). V-wings seemed to be a clone version of the Delta-7 and also seem to lead into the TIE design. The Striker seems to borrow from the Eta-2 and extend the design to a larger fighter. We also don't have exact dates for the origin of any of these fighters, just the earliest depictions in the films and cartoons. TIE Strikers could be a decade old or older by the time of Rogue One.

I will say that there is a LOT of placeholders. Outside of character names and professions and the images for these two ships, there really isn't much in there.

I will say, that the cockpit of the new Rebel fighter does remind me of the ship we see Jyn in. Just a quick look, it looks like the cockpit windows match, so I think it could be legit.

Also, isn't it far to early to judge on what kind of fighters we see in Episode VII. We have seen the Falcon and a new A-wing, that is all. Still a lot of potential space stuff to see.

@up I think most of us have already seen Episode VII

@topic

Early R1 concept:

That's without a doubt the same ship, so it is more of a light transport than a fighter.

The pictures in the first post are not coming through for me. could someone repost here please?

Not sure about the TIE. But the U Wing confirms what I've heard, a Star Wars equivalent of the Black Hawk.

Slightly off topic but it also looks like a Spiculum from Renegade Legion

Since the images are a goner, i putting them again. They seem to take a hold of all the star wars news sites at this moment. The first concept art released a year back and posted here by EMEM cleary show the U-Wing as some sort of transport. So it will probably be some kind of tydirium shuttle.

The pics are reposted here:

Looking for a wider shot of the firts concept art of the movie is unmistakable: the U-Wing is a Transport ship!

I really like the Striker, looks sweet. I wonder how FFG is going to give it a distinct indentity within the imperial roster, though.

I really don't like the Striker

it looks like a Tie Phantom that's really sad because someone stopped building it 2/3rds of the way through

The TIE Striker could be looked at many ways. I certainly could see it as an evolution of the Jedi Starfighters from RotS. This could make it a precursor to the TIE Fighter, or possibly the Interceptor which I feel should have been the FA TIE, but saying it is the atmospheric version makes some sense as well.

That U-Wing sure is more logical when combines with that additional image and seen as some kind of shuttle/transport.

only problem with the U is that the model is going to hang off the base like a bastard

well, I say problem but I love ships that just can't keep to their own personal space

case n point