Scimitar Assault Bomber
Built by Sienar Fleet Systems, the Scimitar bombers were ordered during the reign of Grand Admiral Thrawn. The TIE bombers had always played an important part in the Imperial Navy, and the Scimitars were to replace them. It got its name from the elite bomber wing ‘Scimitar’ assault wing, who helped design the ship.
The ships are unlike the other Imperial fighters in that they are a two-man ship; one pilot and one gunner, who both sit in the forward section of the elongated pod. This can be ejected if the bomber is critically damaged. The craft is made up of the one pod, with two stretched-out solar array panels on either side. To give the pilot and gunner greater visibility than the TIE bomber, the crew compartment is set ahead of the wings.
The rest of the pod contains the targeting systems, power generators, and other systems critical to the running of the ship. At the very back of the pod is the bomb bay and the sublight ion engine. The Scimitars use twin repulsorlift engines, with repulsor thrusters placed on the wing struts for improved maneouverability.
When in space, the Scimitars are quite a lot faster than the TIE bombers, but in atmosphere they are about the same, reaching speeds of about 850 kilometres per hour.. The repulsorlift units, though, allow the Scimitars to reach bombing speeds of over 1000 kilometres per hour. The speed comes from a single ion engine and a pair of interlocked repulsorlift engines.
Within the bomb bay are sixteen concussion missiles, each with a range of nine kilometres. They have the power to destroy city buildings, reinforced bunkers, and even the mighty AT-ATs. The bay can also carry proton grenades and free-falling thermal detonators. If the targets are hard to hit with missiles, then the Scimitars can use their two forward-firing laser cannons to strafe the enemy. The advanced targeting systems make these strafing runs fairly easy. A reinforced hull allows the Scimitar to take much more damage than the TIE bomber. The assault bombers are also fitted with shields, as Thrawn had made it military policy to have starships shielded.
Shortly before Thrawn’s death, Sienar Fleet Systems came out with the Scimitar Mark II. These improved bombers had better ion and repulsorlift engine output.. This boosted the rather slow atmospheric cruising speed from 850 to about 1,150 kilometres an hour. Dive-bombing speeds were also raised to 1,250 kilometres per hour.
The Scimitars proved their worth under Thrawn. He had a wing of them lead the assault on Mrisst, which was his final feint attack before his strike at Coruscant.