Starfighters: Life Support, Ejection Seats, and Shields

[Kerneth]

As we all know, RotS starts out with a battle raging above Coruscant. Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker are flying Eta starfighters through the conflict while wearing nothing more than a hands-free comm set and their Jedi robes.

When they contact another squadron for help, this one of ARC-170s, the (presumably clone) pilots of this squadron are all wearing full flight suits, similar to the TIE pilots of the OT.

As I recall, when the torpedo that releases the buzz droids hits Kenobi's fighter, we don't see a shield interaction with the buzz droids. Nor do we see such an interaction when Anakin uses his starfighter to smash the buzz droids--though having only seen the movie once, I might simply be failing to remember Anakin and Obi-Wan turning their shields off at some point or saying their shields had failed.

This situation suggests a couple of things. First, the Eta and Delta starfighters lack ejection seats--it would, after all, fairly defeat the purpose of an ejection seat for the pilot to not wear any sort of life-support gear or a flight suit. Second, these starfighters might also lack shields. Lastly, the Eta or Delta classes have "open-air" life support systems where the cockpit is maintained at an environment appropriate to the pilot.

The ARC-170s and the Clone pilots on the other hand seem to be a different situation. The Clone pilots--and once again, I'm basing this off a single viewing of the movie and could be wrong--wore full flight suits and have (judging by the two Clonetroopers on Mustafar and the fact we know the suits provide NBC protection) built-in life support systems. Perhaps the ARC-170s have a life-support "plug-in" to extend whatever built-in systems the Clonetroopers have. The ARC-170s are, of course, somewhat larger than the Jedi Starfighters and are not seemingly designed for the 'interceptor' role.

I don't recall if the ARC-170s have shields, nor do I recall seeing a Clone pilot ejecting from a damaged starfighter, but that is a minor issue.

The "Jedi Starfighters" serve to demonstrate an interesting point: shielded or unshielded, the Jedi do not feel that they need to be concerned with either minor damage to the ship resulting in a hull breech or with a need to eject from their starfighters.

This lack of concern suggests that either Jedi overconfidence is so pronounced that they don't consider it likely or even possible that they'll be defeated in starfighter combat--possible, given what we know of PT Jedi--or, that the Jedi feel that an ejection seat and the necessitated "sealed" life support system would be pointless.

This makes a certain amount of sense; with the sort of energies being flung around in Star Wars space battles, the amount of debris from exploding starfighters and damaged capital ships, and radiation from energy weapons, torpedos, and damaged vessels, ejecting from a damaged ship may well be suicidal--the chances of not being hit by fast-moving fragments of a destroyed starfighter, not being cooked by a near-brush with a turbolaser bolt, not being simply run over by another starfighter, or managing to avoid some other grisly demise after ejection may be so vanishingly small that for the most part fighter designers--and pilots--feel that an ejection seat is a waste of time and mass.

Alternately, starfighter designers feel that the Jedi crashing their starfighters into enemy-held territory (such as the hangar bay of a Separatist command ship) and having to leap out and start cutting people down with lightsabers is a common-enough occurence that it would be unacceptable to inhibit the Jedi with having to unplug themselves from a life-support system prior to leaping out of the starfighter. Personally, I find this explanation unlikely.

We know from the OT that starfighter grade shields are fairly weak--other starfighters can punch through them fairly easily, game mechanics aside. The shields protect against flak bursts from light turbolasers, and probably against debris or other small FOD concerns. However, they won't stop multiple direct hits from even starfighter grade weapons, much less light turbolasers.

Further, it has been suggested that TIE fighters (generally) lack shields and ejection seats, but the pilots are provided with a "sealed" life support suit system. Rebel starfighters, on the other hand, have shielding, "open-air" life support systems, and ejection capability (which seems a ridiculous combination with the "open-air" life support system!).

It is my contention that, given the evidence from the PT that even Jedi starfighters--and, surely, Jedi would rate the best fighters available and the designers would want to make the ships as survivable as possible without reducing performance--(possibly) lack shields, favor the "open-air" life support system, and (probably) lack ejection seats, these systems are considered frivolous or even detrimental in PT starfighter combat.

Thus, it brings into question the EU assertion that the Empire considers its pilots disposable, while the Rebel Alliance/New Republic/GFFA values its pilots sufficiently to spend funds on "superior" fighters with shields and ejection seats.

Point 1: Jedi in the PT don't consider flight suits, shields, or ejection seats worthwhile in their starfighters; at least, not as worthwhile as manueverability and speed.

Point 2: Rebel Starfighters have shields that provide minimal protection, ejection seats, and favor an "open-air" life support system and a "magnetic containment" bubble that will keep the pilot alive outside his starfighter for at least a short period of time.

Point 3: Imperial TIE fighters only mount shields for certain situations (such as flying through a debris field left by the Death Star), and Imperial pilots are equipped with a sealed life-support system and a full flight suit. Further, Imperial starfighters supposedly lack ejection seats, which seems incongruous given the superior protection the flight suits and life support systems provide their pilots.

My conclusion from the data assembled from the PT and OT starfighter combat scenes, and the information discussed in this post, is that starfighter-grade shielding is considered primarily useful as a means of preventing FOD damage. I am led to this conclusion by the fact that the Rebel and New Republic starfighters, which mount shields, feel that their pilots don't need sealed life support suits when in their craft--and thus don't feel it likely that the ship will be damaged enough to render the "open-air" life support system useless without destroying the ship outright.

The Jedi, perhaps due to their precog and superior reflexes, in the PT feel that despite the (apparent) lack of shields on their starfighters, FOD to the rather large cockpit window of their starfighters is not a major concern, and thus don't feel it is important to wear even the basic flight suits of the Rebel Alliance.

Imperial TIE pilots, and Clone pilots from the PT, on the other hand, seem to favor a 'sealed' suit system. This suggests that FOD damage, at least to the cockpit window, is a serious concern; perhaps that's the only part of the fighter that is fragile enough to be concerned with a hit from small space debris--anything that is big and fast-moving enough to damage the rest of the starfighter is going to tear it apart anyway. I specifically state FOD damage because, presumably, a direct hit to the cockpit window from a starfighter or ship-grade laser weapon is going to leave the fighter's pilot with more serious concerns than whether or not his ship is open to space.

Thus, it is suggested that the Empire, far from looking at its pilots as easily-replaced and disposable as the EU suggests, is simply pragmatic enough to realize that spending funds on ejection seats and shields for all of its starfighters is a waste of resources, and it is better--both from an accounting viewpoint and for the survivability of the pilots--to simply equip the pilots with a sealed suit system and the most agile, hard-to-hit starfighters possible.

The Rebel Alliance/New Republic/GFFA on the other hand seems to consider equipping its longer-ranged fighters with "open-air" life support, shields, and ejection systems a worthwhile investment. I suggest this is due to the different roles of their starfighters; Rebel fighters are supposed to operate away from base for extended periods, and the "sealed" flight suits may be sufficiently uncomfortable in the long-term that the Rebels feel performance would be degraded if the pilots had to wear them for several hours at a time. It also seems that it is felt the ship's shields provide sufficient protection that FOD to the cockpit is unlikely, and thus, air leaks are not a major concern. Finally, the ejection seat may well be as much a gesture towards pilot morale and a way to say "Look, we CARE about our people, the Emperor doesn't!" as it is a practical feature.

[Techno_Union]

Quick note: the ROTS:ICS says that the starfighters Anikan and Obi-Wan were in did not have shields.

[Crazedwraith]

At least some TIE Fighters have Ejection system, they were used in the Marvel Star Wars series. There's also a pilot seen being flung away from his wrecked fighter in the ESB falcon chase scene.

Possible fixs in comparison with te X-Wing books, the Warlord's buy economy model TIE's with ejectors.

[Kurgan]

Actually from the 3 times I've viewed the film (and pictures in the ROTS VD) it appears that the Clone starpilots don't have any faceplates on those helmets of theirs (which are oddly shaped, like a cross between the Rebel X-Wing pilot helmets and TIE pilot helmets). So as a crash helmet in atmosphere they might make sense, but as a life support system in space they don't seem very useful (unless they had some cgi thing that auto sealed upon crashing or something, which seems needlessly complex).

So they have ejection in the OT era, and shields on at least some fighter craft...

[Spanky The Dolphin]

There's actually shields on most fighter craft.

[Noble Ire]

There's actually shields on most fighter craft.

As far as I can remember, only Line Ties and Tie/INs lacked military grade shield generators.

[Stark]

It didn't 'look' like Obiwans fighter in AOTC had shields either, but it did. Perhaps low-level shields are used contiguous with the hull rather than projected in a volume.

[Darth Wong]

Slave-1's midship guns easily pulverized asteroids as big as Obi-Wan's starfighter, yet a direct hit on his fighter from those same guns during that same full-auto fusillade produced only a fist-sized breach and a small amount of localized melting.

So either he had his shields up, or the hull of his ship was made out of some insanely tough materal.

[Vympel]

It didn't 'look' like Obiwans fighter in AOTC had shields either, but it did. Perhaps low-level shields are used contiguous with the hull rather than projected in a volume.

It looked like it to me. How else to explain the dozens of explosions stopping just before they hit his fighter?

[gizmojumpjet]

A lot of the ejection system issues are based on assumptions derived from the methods currently used in modern fighters. It's entirely possible that the Jedi fighter of RotS 'ejects' it's pilot by discarding the egg-shaped canopy with related life support systems. One could argue that any damage that would breach the egg would kill the pilot, making ejection irrelevant, so relying on the egg to maintain life support wouldn't be expecting too much.

[Darwin]

It didn't 'look' like Obiwans fighter in AOTC had shields either, but it did. Perhaps low-level shields are used contiguous with the hull rather than projected in a volume.

It looked like it to me. How else to explain the dozens of explosions stopping just before they hit his fighter?

The Aethersprites were shielded.

The Actis are not.

And the EpIII ACS states that jedi would forego flight suits to set an example or some such. (An example of what? needless bravado?)

[Kaintukee_Bob]

Regarding 'open-air' life support systems on the X-wings, the pilots life support equipment (worn on their chests) is capable of projecting a 'personal mag-con field' which retains oxygen, and they (presumably) have short-term CO2 scrubbers. The X-wing novels rate the average flight jock suit at 5 minutes vacuum survival. Long enough (in theory) for an EVA pilot retreival shuttle to reach them (when their ejection is reported by their wingman/squadmates).

It can be reasonably assumed that the fighters Anakin and Obi-Wan were flying had a similar system, perhaps built into the pilots seat.

Having never read the comics, I can't comment on ejection seats in the Marvel TIEs, but it stands to reason that the corpse (according to Lucasfilm, the object being flung from the wreckage was a dead body) was flung by either an ejection system or the kinetics of the crash. I don't believe ejection seats are standard in TIEs (Novels, even those by KJA, ranking higher than the old Marvel comics in my personal opinion), as the removal of such a system would simplify the construction process, removing several steps and some materials. This leads to a cheaper end product, which saves a lot of money when purchased in the numbers the Empire had.

It seems to make sense, therefore, that the standard TIE has no ejection system, but some modified versions do. It would *not* make sense, however, to use these modified TIEs in the asteroid field (especially one as dense as the ESB field), unless the Star Destroyer in question carried *only* such specially equpped TIEs. Ejection systems are of limited use, afterall, when they serve only to chuck you into a dense collection of rocks moving at relatively high speeds. Survival after ejection would not be likely. Therefore, the pilot being tossed from the fighter tells us one of several things:

a) The Star Destroyer from which it was launched had *only* modified TIEs with ejection seats

OR

b) The empire sent its best avaliable pilots into the field, and they flew their regularly assigned fighters, which had been modified to include ejection systems. (Pilots may be considered disposable by the Empire, but experienced pilots much less so) This seems like the most likely explanation, IMHO.

OR

c) The pilot was thrown from the detonating fighter by some crazy mix of kinetic, explosive, and centrifugal force. Very little wreckage went with him, suggesting this is unlikely.

[Cykeisme]

It didn't 'look' like Obiwans fighter in AOTC had shields either, but it did. Perhaps low-level shields are used contiguous with the hull rather than projected in a volume.

It looked like it to me. How else to explain the dozens of explosions stopping just before they hit his fighter?

Flak bursts?
*ducks*

The holes in the hull, but strangely intact components beneath seemed to imply that there was a shield under the hull since it's unlikely the hits would have just enough energy to burn a hole in the hull but not damage the presumably more delicate innards.

Perhaps ships that are supposed to not have "combat-rated" shields (TIE fighters, Eta-2s, etc) have whatever it is that does this? I've said it before on other threads.. I think it's unlikely for any spacecraft in Star Wars to not mount any shielding whatsoever, what with the danger of micrometeorites and debris.
I mean, one day your craft design is going to meet some bastard of a dense ferrous rock whose frame of reference just so happens to be several hundred or thousand meters per second relative to your craft's frame of reference. With this in mind, and considering the abundance of shield technology, I find it doubtful that a ship won't mount any shielding at all.
I also hate the game-spawned "fragile TIE", "flying tank X-Wing" brainbug anyway.

Back on topic, I doubt TIE fighter pilots are considered expensive. It's cheaper to fix up a clone than to produce and train a new one, anyway.
*ducks again*

As for Jedi, perhaps they do leap straight out of their fighters, lightsabers ablaze, pretty often?
Also, someone (on another thread) once mention that it's possible that Jedi are capable of surviving in vacuum for short periods (but longer than a regular human) using an application of some aspect of Force manipulation.