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Judging from A New Hope, Tie fighters were just as sturdy as X wings: one shot pretty much killed them unless you had Luke or Wedge plot armor.

As a fighter jet maintainer for 13 years I can confirm the biggest threat isn't poor maintenance. It is pilots. We lost or heavily damaged 6 F16s in my time as a maintainer for the Air National Guard. All were pilot error.

All things considered, if you’re directly behind a TIE fighter, the cross-section is going to be pretty difficult to hit as you’re really aiming for center mass. If you pitch that airframe up or down, the cross-section remains the same. The only time that changes is when the TIE would pitch left or right. If your gun skills relies on accuracy by volume, you’re going to be throwing a lot down range before you score good hits.

Tie fighter is comparable to the Imperial Japanese Navy's Zero fighter of 1941/42. Their pilots were the most experience in the world with a highly maneuverable fighter with no armour. Their advantage in extended realist combat training and actual combat experience against the Chinese gave the Japanese advantage against all allied fighters with less experienced pilots who had less hours of flying experience. The attritional fighting against the allies in 1942 with the Japanese not having an adequate replacement pilot training structure gave the advantage to the allies in 1943 onwards.

It’s a bit odd how the Sith Empire in the old republic era saw fit to outfit their fighters with a token shield system to ensure that they wouldn’t be lost to debris or micrometeorites, whereas the Galactic Empire didn’t. I guess Sith back then were just built different.

Next, talk about the other misunderstood aspects of the equipment used by the Empire: Example: Stormtrooper Armor is not the 1-hit Kill people often think it is. Unless your weapon is high yield (Chewbacca), modded for armor penetration (Han), a lightsaber (Luke), or you have pinpoint accuracy (Leia), that Trooper you shot isn't dead. They're in Medical Shock. Except for the guy who fell down the shaft in ANH while Wilhelm Screaming. He's dead. The real issues with Stormtrooper Armor, as noted by Captain Rex, are the lower quality material and ill fit, both consequences of expanded mass production. This is in contrast to Clone Armor, which only had to fit a smaller of identical individuals, granting a higher quality and near-perfect fit with a single mold.

I've always viewed TIE fighters as the SW version of the MiG-21. Amazing when they first came out, quickly outmatched by better technology, but cheap, easy to produce, and can still give superior fighters a hard time by overwhelming them with numerical superiority. And still vastly superior to anything a civilian could get a hold of.

I really wish we’d get a Star Wars show or game that showed the true deadliness of the TIE line. Imagine if your first time flying a ship in Star Wars Outlaws: you go up and see a TIE, and think “ah, I’ll hit it once and it’ll blow up” only for it to dodge every shot you fire and then swing around and rake your shields down to 2% after a single pass, and it can just wail on you and stay behind you, above you, around you, and pretty much anywhere but in front of your guns, and you have to run from any TIE until you either install a ball turret or sneak in and get in a surprise hit.

TIE fighters are also relying on the anti-fighter (AAA) batteries of Imperial capital ships. The Capital ships covering the rear of the TIEs and the TIE luring the Rebel ships into the range of the capital ships AAA.

The M1 tank does have a slope. It maybe a boxy style. The turret and front does have a slope. There was and still is a lot of science. To decide on the angle of that slope. I have worked on the tank, driven the tank. And even painted them.

@Generation Tech I liked the video. I have a couple things i need to point out. *1 Imperial Fighters do have the superior Sensor and Targeting systems, as stated in "Incredble Vehicles and Vessels" along with the "Star Wars TIE FIGHTER" novel/guide. You are right though, that the data feed from bases and capships will also help the TIEs alot. Also TIE INTERCEPTORS and DEFENDERS have the most advanced Targeting computers during the Civil War out of every factions fighters. *2 The materials used in TIEs, and in effect Rebel fighters, is more durable than we thought. Unshielded TIE Interceptors chased Gold Squadron and the character from SW Rebels, through a nebula full of forming stars. Nebulas full of proto stars internally is putting out immense radiation, heat, the gravity fileds from all the proto stars forming and absorbing one another. In real life we got nothing that can survive that. Also ill add the Targeting systems for the Interceptors, Defender, and Rebels were only slightly hampered at most desperate all the titanic Electromagnetic fields, heat, and gravity in the area they are flying in. Star Treks sensors are nulled in much less hostile nebulas.

I've always thought the TIE is under-rated by many, and that a mix of an F-16 and F-35 comp makes sense for the platform. Highly maneuverable, mass producible, with a focus on cutting edge avionics. The limited viewport often gets criticized, but I've always imagined that that is a backup system, and that TIE pilots actually have a helmet sight similar to F-35 pilots that allows them to see through the walls in 360 degrees. Ultimately, its a design that is a good fit for the Empire's military strategy, designed to compliment and protect their crown jewel, the Star Destroyer.

I will say. Your videos and commentary styles keep me locked in. The editing keeps me looking when I’m watching or if I’m at work and just have the AirPods in the commentary makes the day go by faster. Please don’t stop tech. “MOREEEEEEEE”.

For being fighters protected by shields, the rebel fighters seem to explode really easily.

The tie fighter reminds me of the t34 it's not as survivable as a sherman or as armed and armoured as German cats but it's very easy to maintain and easy to mass produce

I know I have mentioned it before, but I do not think something as small as a TIE or an X-Wing should have hyperdrives. Massive energy requirements, and you may be in hyperspace for hours to days. Unlike road tripping on a motorcycle, you can't pull off the road to relieve yourself in outer space. Also cramped and not comfortable to sleep in. In the books Luke was able to get away with it since he could just enter a Jedi Trance and coma the whole way.

The T.I.E series was rather modular, if that was on purpose or not. Almost all ships that fell under that umbrella had the same structure, a cockpit module sandwiched between two fins that sat parallel to each other. From where I stand when building a Star Fighter its overall shape really only matters in atmosphere, the sleek and long design of the X-Wings main body doesn't really do much when in a vacuum. The T.I.E series shows a consistent and uniform design method and in theory this should allow the design process for new fighters to be a quick and cost effective. Plus Grand Admiral Thrawn did not deviate too much when it came to designing the T.I.E defender, so if the structure of the ship was good enough for him then you know the T.I.E series was good enough.

I always remember the A6M Zero when I see the tie fighter. The pilot in a Zero had no parachute or radio to save weight.

all of those modern tanks are very sloped from front attacks as you will most likely take hits there, with combined arms, drones and other tools identifying locations before contact. notice the slope on the turrets as well. then something you cant see, modern tanks use composite armor, if you google that they actually sandwich layers at an angle which makes a weight to protection maximizer very very happy.

I mean, judging from the films, those deflector shields don't offer THAT much protection.

*Thanks SIENNAR SYSTEMS for sponsorizing todays video*

Kind of reminds me of a video I saw a little while ago comparing Western and Russian fighters. Both are impressive, but have completely different philosophies in design and use.

Thank you so much for doing a video on my suggestion + the shout out! Still cant believe it!

More info on the arc shape: An arc ensures that the stresses along it is compressive which can be withstood by even brittle materials like stone compared to bending stresses.

Love it! Have you gone over the tie defender before?

When I played all the X-Wing/Tie Fighter games, the Tie Fighter was by far the best fighter to fight in. You can't beat maneuverability in a game like that.

The tie fighter traded armour for speed and manoeuvrability. Kinda like real life military soldiers, they normal go light on armour and go for not getting hit. The ties do the same

The shielded Rebel fighters didnt seem to fare any better than the TIEs innall the clips shown

I remember when I was young, I was reading the Star Wars Visual Guide with my father (covers only the OT era, white cover, can't remember the exact title). We read the entry on TIE fighter pilots which went something like "These TIE pilots are elites. They graduated in the top 10% of their class in the Naval Academy. Despite being elite status, they know they are expendable." He raised his eyebrows at that last part.

I started playing Squadrons again recently and I prefer the speed and maneuverability of a TIE Interceptor rather than any shielded fighter. Also, not having to worry about shields gives me one less thing to worry about so I can make easier/quicker decisions, it’s just like “I wanna attack, more power to the weapons” or “I’m getting shot at, all energy to the engines, let’s get the f*ck out of here”

Brilliant talk on vehicles and tech and directions in fighters design.

You hit the nail in the head at the number one most risky part of fighters and such, it's maintenance. It's the shit that happens before even leaves the ground That is the number one risk point. Good shout

Thanks for the information, cool ships.

When it comes down to it I can't recall seeing any fighter, shielded or not, withstand a couple of direct shots from another fighters weapons. In the movies X-Wings blow up just as quickly as a TIE does, lol. Only in the computer games do they make a difference.

On sloped armor: it doesn’t work if the armor is made from brittle material like ceramics. Hence the slab sided designs of the present day tanks which used composite armor which include ceramics in it.

"Only the fighters are attacking. I wonder what those Star Destroyers are waiting for." -- Lando Calrissian

It's often been said that TIE Fighters are among the toughest, most reliable starfighters in the galaxy. A study of returned craft has been unable to show any failings in the ship's hardware. Detractors say this is because the ships keep blowing up and their shortcomings go undocumented, but the Empire dismisses such concerns as coming from the seditious tongues of rebel scum.

Two other advantages of the TIE design: modularity, which makes for easy upgrades (using the same hull, potentially swapping out ears and weapons pods for TIE Interceptor, Advanced, etc.), and (from what I've gathered playing the TIE Fighter PC game so long ago), quick ejection once the fighter does receive catastrophic damage. Getting rescued, either by tractor beam or pickup shuttle, is another matter!

Nitpick: Republic Sienar System and its subsidiary Sienar Design System were already manufacturing mass-produced stuff, such as the Marauder-class corvette or the Dagger starfighter (basically, the TIE without the twin ion engine).

the B-21 Raider has been built though, they are testing the first prototypes

A sphere/circle/arch/etc. is 'strong' because they are good at distributing the mechanical force/load applied to them; but this quality would be useless against laser cannons -powerful lasers would (irl) explode/vapourize, not 'push'; the material it contacts.

When flying the Tie Fighter in the X-wing games, your maneuverability is your shields. You have the speed and the turn rate to shake off any X-wing.

ERA isn’t an active protection measure it’s a passive protection measure, the armour doesn’t actively look for incoming threats to neutralise.

I have a question: If Darth Sidious was born during the time when the Sith Empire and the Galactic Republic coexisted with one another, can he played the same political manuever to get himself a seat on the Dark Council?

Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Din Grogu, Gavin, Ahsoka Tano, Leia Organa

Love your jokes you manage get chuckles out of me every single time😂

Nice HBL reference 👌

TIEs are flying coffins in an almost literal sense as there's no force field ejection to protect the pilot and that it doesn't have a hyperdrive of its own.

4:35 Bro, I love my Hyundai Kona N Line!

I'm curious what the difference is between the ion engines used in the MK-VI Supremacy Class Starfighter from 3-4k years ago and the ones used in the TIE's during the modern era? .. and how much of that old ship informed the design of the new TIE's?

Please do more tactics videos

@generation tech - Love this vital note on ties. it validates quite alot, but my view on the empires might would also impact their maneuverability, as you did conclude the pilots had an advantage in handling extreme maneuvering objectives. Also like I wrote the ea squadrons game devs to modify its capabilities to translate a side vector pivot maneuvering ability (a side to side sliding movement ) . this is not an actual canon ability to ties, but in a way it is. since they seem to be doing this movement in the visual radar dash hud in the movies. something I think would reflect within the arm base wing systems capabilities, and would really be a furious feature advancement like in the defenders. Something that would really leads to the empires fearsome reputation.

A leopards do use... Sloped armor... It's it's visible from outside and it has even angled panels inside (composite armor)

I've always loved TIE fighters. still do. TIEs and star destroyers are just plain cool.

There were a few things you didn't touch on and a comparison to the Reble fighters as well. Starting with the whole "window" view for the front, the Reble ships had canopies that while giving them a bigger field of view, was also a much bigger and easier to hit target compared to the forward view port of the Tie. Both with their pros and cons being better field of view over better protection. Another is firepower. Ignoring missiles and just focusing on the main weapons, the blasters as their the most used. X-wings have 4 blasters compared to the Ties two however, each of the X-wings blasters is on the end of a single wing and as many times seen in the movies and cartoons they all shoot inward slightly like some WWII fighters with similar designs. Whereas the Tie's two blasters are both below the cockpit and fire simultaneously. The X-wings blasters fired ONLY one at a time and the delay between the shots for the X-wings blasters was greater than that of the Ties. (That is based on comparisons made while watching the movies frame by frame there's no details that i know of that say what the actual delay is so this could change or be wrong.) The final point i want to make is the overall area of the fighters themselves. How easy are they to hit. When attacking front to front the Tie's sphere body and the "arms" holding the "wings. (Sorry can't think of what they're called.) Attacking from the front, back, top or bottom that stays the same and with its agility it will be very hard to hit. That changes when attacking from the side as then the "wings" are a huge target. The X-wing is roughly just as hard to hit from the front or back. It's easier to hit from the top or bottom and the sides are easier than the front or back. Thats just on a one-on-one fight of course. But the Empire tended to attack with mass fighter numbers, them coming at a X-wing from several angles with massed fire and its very likely to get shot down. The Reble's also used fighter wings but with smaller numbers and even those tended to break into smaller groups due to limited numbers. Again, pros and cons for both. Personally, i love the Ties. Their shape, the weapon placement and favoring speed over taking hits. I've always believed that it doesn't matter how great your weapon is if you can't hit your target.

The Tie Fighter. A symbol of peace and order throughout the galaxy!

Nice video. I always loved the tie fighters and I was actually glad the first order took it a step further. But you're 99% right. I agree with everything you said except for the part when you said the empire didn't value it's pilots. If anything, considering what we know about the empires military culture, and the way funds were almost always favorable to the Navy, you'd realize the empire valued it's pilots over say an infantry men in the regular imperial army (not the stormtrooper corps).

i think the fragility of the TIE can actually be a hidden strength, like on the struts where they break of easily keep the main body intact but let a disposable part fly off to preserve the pilot in thier full life support suits.

I played star wars squadrons and i didn't change my reliable Tie figther, maybe it hadn't hyperdrive, shields or another survival features but you can see all in front you across your big round cockpit and that's all

Really, perhaps shields helped against space debris, but in the original trilogy movies, the rebels’ fighter shields only seemed to dampen laser damage rather than block it. Even in the sequel series where First Order TIE fighters had shields, they seemed to only block the first laser bolt in a burst before subsequent bolts vaporized the TIE fighters. Outside of RPGs and video games, fighter shields didn’t seem that effective.

Its also important to point out and/or highlight all the tech in for example the Stormtroopers helmets that the writers and makers of all the star wars stuff constantly ignore. But yes nice video.

I don’t even skip the advertisements anymore(sorry Alan😅). They fit his channel so well and he’s been doing them for so long, it kinda just feels like part of the show now. Now *that’s* good advertising!

In the New Jedi Order series, pilots are depicted as dialing the inertial compensators way down.

Um…I think we’re forgetting the giant targets built into the blind spots on both sides of the tie. Shooting the cockpit is Like aiming for the head when the chest is a much bigger target.

Great point about the inertial compensators. I feel that repulsor lifts (same tech ) have been totally forgotten about in the SW Galaxy. Ships weren't supposed to use their main sub light drives in populated areas because of the radiation pollution, yet we see it happen all the time in the current crop of Disney SW shows. Anyway, I would love to see you do a bit on the under appreciated Repulsor Lift, if you haven't already. Vode en!

The TIE is an iconic fighter.

I thought it was pronounced sci-nar. That's interesting regarding the gravity compensator. That actually explains a lot.

2:35 well that escalated rather quickly

Sidenote, I really want a +2017 Mazda CX5 in red. Have a 2011 Mazda 3 but it's too small, specially after a child. She's been amazing, almost 200K miles, has never had a check engine light or any issues besides normal wear and tear. Even still drive able after getting T boned by an F150 that didn't feel like stopping at a stop sign, put the total check in savings.

I would add part the reason for the design of the TIE Fighter was modularity. It was easier with general maintenance, but also any special systems that needed to be added for special missions like special scanners or communicatios could be swapped out easily and quickly without needing an entirely new ship design. The Rebel starfighters in general don't have that capability and require actual modifications that take time and a lot more complicated then unplugging something pulling it out and putting something else in and plugging it up. Some of those things that could have been swapped out on a TIE Fighter could potentially provide a little extra advantage over another starfighter when coupled with their better speed/agility and deploying usually in large groups with other well skilled pilots. I never even thought about the ball being more sturdy design overall, but you're right about how that shape helps equally distribute force around....not that it helps a whole lot when dealing with lasers, but if you crash I do think it would really help witg survival.....even if you puke everywhere from the "ball" rolling around with you in it.

More on the "angled armor" point, all the "specialized" TIE fighters, from the interceptor to the bomber to the defender to Vader's own personal fighter had angled foils (though I never really understood what the foils were for. Heat dissipation? Solar panels?) which probably gave them an extra layer of protection over the standard flat-foil TIE.

It is actually a pretty valid option to consider if you Can't hit me why do I need Shields? In addition to cost and weight saving you reserve pilot Focus and concentration on the only things that matter speed maneuverability and firepower..... Notably the only things available to put the system's power towards maximum output.

A lot of people like to compare the Zero to the TIE Fighter and the Hellcat to the X-Wing, but it's actually more that the Zero is the TIE Fighter and the Hellcat is the TIE Interceptor.

What’s that pixel display thing? It’s kinda cool.

The B21 raider has been build or at least a prototype aircraft, they literally did a huge unveiling ceremony for it late last year I believe

5:50 U had to include Shrek scene lol!

I imagine that the ball cockpit of a TIE Fighter is good for dissipating the impact of a collision (and improving crash safety) because if it hits a surface there's a good chance it will roll, removing kinetic energy from a crash. This is not the case with most starfighters.

In A New Hope, It took a burst, not one or two shots, from an X-Wing to kill a TIE in the Death Star battle if I remember correctly. And it also took a burst from the TIEs to kill an X-Wing or Y-Wing. Which means it came down to skill, of which the TIE pilots were among the most highly trained in the galaxy and were selected from the most talented recruits in the galaxy, and speed and maneuverability. Which, I mean, it's a damn TIE FIGHTER so, yeah.

habitual line crosser reference gets an instant thumbs up.

EckhartsLadder has an interesting video on this. He argues that based on just the movies the Tie fits its role well

I hope your health has improved Allen !!!

The animated short film Tie Fighter comes to mind listening to this, its a really great short film 😁

Thee white Mazda CX-5 gives me a strong First Order stormtrooper feels.

What I don't like the most is the view from the cabin, but we don't even know what was shown to the pilots on the other panels or directly in the helmet

I'll put it this way: The meta ships in Star Citizen, which is trying to be a more realistic unlicensed Star Wars game, are all small and light focusing on evasion for survival. This may change as intended when armor is actually simulated, but the current game is already relatively realistic to weapon effect. Smaller weapons take longer but eventually get the job done. Probably still faster than intended, but any weapon will do some damage to armor unless we're talking capital ship against small arms fire. However, the tie fighter is a perfect example of a snub fighter with substantial firepower that relies on maneuverability to survive. It would likely be highly dangerous for a couple medium fighters to go after a wing of them as long as BVR tactics can be avoided, which seems to be the standard situation in Star Wars. There seems to be no concept of engaging before BFM comes into play. And that's easily explained by Lucas' desire for space combat to resemble the battles of WWII, where most aerial engagements occurred in what would be most commonly understood as dogfights despite the fact that tactics usually meant avoiding dogfights and instead utilizing hit and run tactics.

If installing (or removing) a deflector significantly changes the performance of a starfighter, it makes me wonder if the concept of the T/F being unshielded is perhaps another little reference to WW2, considering Star Wars takes so much inspiration from that conflict for anything from politics to uniform design... In the Pacific Theater, the famous Japanese A6M Zero fighter was renowned for its agility, which it gained in good part by sacrificing all sorts of weighty protective measures from armor to damage control. By prioritizing maneuverability, the IJN's skilled pilots - having gained considerable experience in the Sino-Japanese War - were able to easily outmaneuver and out-climb the more rugged but also much heavier USN Wildcats in the first year of the war. This only changed later with the introduction of the Hellcat and Corsair and their more powerful engines, and by this time the quality of the Japanese pilots took a nosedive as the Empire struggled to replace its elite fighter corps with new recruits, since training took way too long, and so attrition caused a bottleneck that ultimately forced them to send up green rookies. Hence the so-called "Marianas Turkey Shoot", and the rest of history. I definitely could see some parallels to Star Wars here, especially recalling what a nightmare A-Wings were to fight in the TIE Fighter videogame, compared to the slower X-Wings whose rears you'd have no problem gluing your T/F to in a dogfight. On a side note, we should probably also recall that just as video games are limited by balancing, so are movies and TV shows limited by the plot. Just because some cutscenes or whatever show TIE's getting popped just by a single shot of protagonist X-Wing's laser cannon doesn't mean this has to be representative. Let's remember that in the very first piece of Star Wars canon - Episode IV - the Death Star's TIE Fighters had no problem blasting through even double-reinforced X-Wing deflectors with just half a second's worth of laserfire.

The tie is a budget build crotch rocket , for interceptor duties its a good ship, if the empire had kept a longer range arc 170 type vessel the ties would probably have done a lot better, i can picture an empire where tarkin took a quick trip down a cliff and the ties have a heavy fighter back up with deflectors, heavy weapons, ftl, etc, that serve as an anchor for tie squadrons, when the fleet drops in the heavy fighters are filling an x wing roll letting the ties scramble safely. The ties pack pretty neatly so with a chance to scramble they probably out number anyone they're fighting.

Modern tank armor can't be curved so no rounded shapes. Also as you note, internal space is important so you can only slope so much before it hinders the crew's ability to operate the tank.

Great video as usual and as an owner of 3 90s coupes, I will never get it to that crossover nonsense

I mean the Eta-2 Actis Interceptor the Jedi used also didn't have shields. Not having shields is not about the pilot being disposable. If your pilot is good enough, you would expect them to not need shields. When playing Star Wars Galaxies, my N-1 fighter also didn't have shields in favour of a faster engine and bigger guns. My idea there was always "I only need shields if I let them hit me and that's just not going to happen".

There's a big missed opportunity to mention the stealth capabilities of the TIE after talking about real world stealth fighters. Due to the Twin Ion Engine not having moving parts and exceedingly efficient drives, many starfighter sensors cant pickup TIEs at a distance. Even in a New Hope, Luke mentions his scope was blank and veteran pilots like Red Leader had to instruct his group to find incoming TIEs by sight. Impressive, considering that X-wing are supposed to have advanced sensor packages.

A cape and a jetpacks combination

I would love to see a novel and a TV series about the Sienar family.

Ok, I am really tempted by that Sailor Moon lightsabre

Question: Why do X-Wings look like their cockpit is also an ejector seat? I remember watching a video where X-Wings have cockpits that act as an ejector seat while the droid would take control of the craft.

In one of the Three books about the Yuuzhan Vong one abandoned Tie-Fighter-Pilot was mentioned WHO survived a very Long Journey

That brutal free-world burn at the beginning was golden.

00:32 Yeah...if you do that you're going to lose all those knights and horses and the other guys will be basically unharmed. You don't charge a bunch of guys with polearms while on horseback (or at all). And cavalry wasn't used like that anyway, it was more of a mop-up force and hit targets of opportunity and kept a routing enemy routing (and that's when people generally started dying in notable numbers in medieval warfare).

The main problem with the TIE is that as far as I know, no one has every actually used them defensively instead of offensively in the lore even though defense in dense swarms to augment anti-air capabilities is the entire reason they exist and the only reason Star Destroyers have that main hangar.