Star Wars V-Wing Starfighter

Presenting the Alpha-3 Nimbus-class V-wing starfighter,

Also known as the V-Wing Starfighter or Nimbus Starfighter.

The V-Wings can be seen towards the end of Episode III first as escorts to the Emperor's personal shuttle when he went to pick up the "remains" of Anakin Skywalker, and then a bit after when several of them are seen patrolling the space around the construction of the first Death-Star - which would take almost 19 years.

Developed by Kuat Industries, the V-Wing were developed at the same time as the Eta-2 Actis-Class Jedi Interceptor (Which replaced the Delta-7 Jedi Interceptor  whose nose cone the V-Wing draws inspiration from) hence both fighters employ S-foils. But unlike the Eta-2 Jedi Interceptor whose S-Foils are flush against its hull, the V-Wing's S-foils run parallel to the body of the starfighter and open up like a "vee" to run perpendicular to the body of the V-Wing  - hence the name "V-Wing."


The V-Wings would eventually be replaced by the mass-produced and highly disposable Tie-Fighter and Tie-Intereceptors, and also made the same high-pitched screeching noise that its Imperial replacements made. Ironically, the V-Wing would also be the inspiration for the design of the very deadly, very fast, A-Wing starfghter.

The V-Wings carried one-pilot and employed the services of one R9 series astromech which was built into the hull of the starfighter - non-removable - unlike the X-Wing's astromechs.

The V-Wings come equipped with Twin-Laser Cannons - although in the Star Wars: Battlefront II game they came equipped with shock-cannons and proton bombs and acted as Heavy Bombers instead of interceptors - weird given the design. What you see here is also strange because the pair of "guns" on the port and starboard sides of the V-Wing are spring loaded and launch like missiles rather than act like Laser Cannons - in which case the V-Wing would have four laser cannons, not two. As the collectible appears, it has two laser-cannons built into the hull and four missiles.

The funny part is that the V-Wings were replaced by TIE-Fighters which are, yes, faster (1,200 km/h versus the V-Wing's 1,050 km/h), but it gives up shields, survivability (Thanks to the R9 unit) and the ability to jump to hyperspace given the V-Wing's ability to attach to hyperspace rings like the Jedi Interceptors do.

While the V-Wings may quite possibly be more expensive to create, given the quantities that were created, replacing them with disposable fighters should have seemed rather.... harsh.... to any Imperial pilot.

Darth Vader must have been the head of the Imperial Complaints department.

What's to like about the Star Wars V-Wing Starfighter?

FIRST:  Damn that's cool! It's an A-Wing married to a TIE and it has folding S-Foils like an X-Wing! Shields, guns, and probably missiles. What more can you ask for?

The V-Wing is a hunter-killer starfighter that is as intimidating as the claw-craft TIE-Interceptor and the cross-of death X-Wing fighter.

We would definitely fly this. The only problem with the V-Wing would be the same problem that a TIE-Fighter has: It's hard to figure out the clearance of those S-foils, especially since you can't see the lower pair from where the pilot sits - unlike the wings of a TIE-fighter and even the S-foils of an X-Wing. We're quite sure quite a few of these craft were lost to S-foils being clipped.

Simply pushing the top engine on the back of the V-Wing fighter activates the springs that snaps the S-foils into attack position. Fold them back manually.

There are also smaller flaps at the back that you can move - beside the engine which you can move and probably help in atmospheric flight.

SECOND: The Empire cares for their droids: The V-Wing has a second pair of positionable S-foils that act as additional armor and some form of protection for the R9 unit. You'd have to line up perfectly behind or in front of a V-Wing to hit the R9 - assuming you can get through the shields that is.

THIRD:  We really think it's sexy:

It can land too. Simply extend the landing gear at the bottom of the hull:

What's NOT to like about the Star Wars V-Wing Starfighter?

FIRST:  We really think that the V-Wing Starfighter would have been retired due to the large amount of clipped S-foils generated simply by flying in formation - there's no way that the pilot can see where they are down there without instrumentation.

So we guess that explains why they were replaced by the disposable TIEs.

SECOND: We really wish we could take the R9 out. Too bad it's stuck in place. It would have made a nice action figure.

THIRD: The fact that the canon around this particular starfghter is unclear. Its built as an interceptor. No way is this a heavy bomber. And if it is an interceptor, then does it or does it not have missiles? Also where are the V-Wing's cannons supposed to be? On the S-foils or recessed into the body? How many? The Lego version of the V-Wing has cannons mounted on the wings and a pair of missile launchers underneath. So a clear canon as to what the V-Wing can and cannot do is sorely wanted.

But it's still sexy.

We don't quite remember where we picked up this V-Wing. We believe it was at a fire sale. A brand new one on Amazon will set you back US$ 44.70 (Roughly PhP 2,011 plus shipping). We're sure that's not what we paid for it.