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A particle shield, navigational shield,[1] or concussion shield[2] was a type of deflector shield used to absorb the kinetic energy of physical projectiles, such as proton torpedoes and concussion missiles, or space debris. Particle shields were ineffective against laser and turbolaser fire, and offered no protection from them.[3]
Particle shields strengthened the molecular bonds of hull plating using energy charges, giving starships enhanced hull integrity. The shields were constantly powered to deal with small particles impacting the ship, such as micrometeors.[3] The shield had to be deactivated to launch spacecraft such as shuttles or starfighters, or if a starship wished to fire its own projectiles.[4] Microsecond precision was required during combat to reduce the time that the ship was vulnerable with its shields down; computers were used to lower and raise the shields with the precision needed.[3]
In 23 BBY, during a mission to Fondor, though the particle shield of Anakin Skywalker's borrowed CloakShape fighter held up in the explosive aftermath of the destruction of Groodo the Hutt's counterfeit Sun Runner transport, Skywalker was forced to finish the job when he noticed that the derelict's 20-warhead sensor-guided missile silo was still intact and on a trajectory towards Fondor's jungle-moon of Nallastia. Aiming the CloakShape's concussion-missile launcher at the silo, Skywalker was successful in destroying it, but the powerful blast's shock waves sent his fighter into an out-of-control spiral, down through Nallastia's atmosphere to the moon's surface, where it crash-landed. Skywalker was later retrieved by his Master Obi-Wan Kenobi and Jedi Knight Bultar Swan.[5]
