User:Cavalier One/Workpad10

For other uses, see E-11.

Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi. You're my only hope.

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"And these blast points, too accurate for Sand People. Only Imperial stormtroopers are so precise."

―Obi-Wan Kenobi observing damage caused by E-11 wielding stomtroopers against a Jawa sandcrawler^[1]

Description

"You can't stay on target with these things! You miss your first shot, and you're lying on the ground with a hole blasted through your armor."

―An stormtrooper on the Cairn Installation^[3]

Good long-range targeting^[1]

The E-11's computer-enhanced scope was capable of filtering out smoke and haze during combat, and enhanced the wielder's vision in low-light conditions. It had an integrated power unit, focus adjust, and targeting sensor.^[1]

The E-11 was a compact blaster rifle, light and well-balanced, with an extended stock.^[1] With the stock collapsed, the weapon could be easily wielded with one hand.^[4] Soldiers carrying E-11s could move unencumbered across the battlefield and engage in close quarters combat as easily as if the trooper was armed with a pistol.^[1] With the stock extended, it could be braced against the shoulder to allow the wielder a more stable firing platform.^[4]

Barrel's advanced galven circuitry^[1]

The barrel of the E-11 ran for almost the entire length of the weapon, allowing the blaster rifle to produce a tightly-focused particle beam. The barrel had a quarter-centimeter bore, making it lethal at full power. The E-11 could be set to variety of intensities, including stun. A number of fire selections was available; while semiautomatic fire was the norm to prevent overheating and to conserve ammunition, the E-11 was capable of fully automatic and pulse fire. The barrel could be knocked out of alignment if fired on full automatic.^[1]

Because of this design, the weapon's actuating module and prismatic crystal housing were the only two components mounted behind the barrel. The other standard blaster components were mounted around or underneath the galven circuitry. The gas chamber wrapped around the back of the barrel in a unique tubular configuration. To access these components, a module could be slid out of the back of the weapon for maintenance. A Rotating Coupler allowed access to the module from the outside.^[1]

Cooling coils fed a liquid cooling agent known as freelol through an integrated capillary system to carry away excess heat. The heat was drawn away from the weapon's vital components and into the forward vents.^[1]

The E-11's power pack was side-mounted, and held enough ammunition for one hundred shots.^[1]

With a maximum range of three hundred meters and an optimum range of one hundred meters^[1]

History

The E-11 blaster rifle was adopted as the standard sidearm for the Galactic Empire's stormtrooper forces. The compact weapon offered a combination of range and heavy damage output that rivalled that of a traditional long-barrelled rifle. While sold exclusively to Imperial forces by BlasTech, The Alliance to Restore the Republic acquired thousands of E-11s through the black market and theft.^[1]

Variants

The E-11A blaster rifle and E-11A1 blaster rifle were smaller versions of the standard E-11 and lacked the extended stocks. The latter model was compact and capable of being holstered at the soldier's hip.^[1]

The E-11b blaster rifle was created by former BlasTech designers who joined the Rebel Alliance. The weapon had a more efficient freelol cooling system that allowed a faster rate of fire.^[1]

The success of the E-11 led to SoroSuub Corporation producing a knock-ff version known as the Stormtrooper One.^[1] Nearly all of the rifles ended up in Alliance hands, and was renamed as the "Freedom One."^[4]

Behind the scenes

A Return of the Jedi E-11 pictured with a Sterling submachine gun from which the A New Hope and Empire Strikes Back version was designed — A *Return of the Jedi* E-11 pictured with a Sterling submachine gun from which the *A New Hope* and *Empire Strikes Back* version was designed

The E-11 blaster rifle props used in A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back were built from a British-made Sterling Mark 4 L2A3 sub-machine gun. The Sterlings used in both productions were provided by British film armorers Bapty & Co. For the filming of Return of the Jedi, ILM used mostly Canadian C1 Sterling copies manufactured by MGC (Model Gun Corporation from Japan), but also a few resin E-11 Stunt blasters also seen in The Empire Strikes Back in the hands of stormtroopers and snowtroopers.

The scopes used on A New Hope E-11 props were World War II Sherman tank scopes, most notably the M38 (but also M40, M19 and M32). A Hengstler Corporation industrial mechanical counter was added to the side of the gun close behind the magazine receiver. There are at least two variations of the Hengstler boxes known to have been used on the props. The only visual difference between the two boxes is in the logos on their sides: one says "Hengstler" with a small eagle, where others merely have the eagle logo. The counters were crudely glued on the body of the blaster and on the scope, and thus some of them fell off during filming, residual glue remaining in place. On the magazine of the E-11 blasters there were added a pair of cylinders containing genuine Metalmite capacitors; these cylinders can be seen on top of the MSE-6 mouse droid, as well as on other props.

To give the actors something to react to and to give rotoscoping artists timing reference when animating blaster bolts, the E-11 rifle props in the original trilogy—which were still fully operational firearms—were loaded with blank cartridges that were then fired to provide a practical effect. Because of this, expended 9mm casings can be seen ejecting from the props in several scenes in A New Hope, particularly during the assault on the Death Star's detention level. This can also be seen briefly in a closeup of Lando firing one in The Empire Strikes Back.

Kenner produced a full-size toy version of this rifle as part of its first Star Wars toy line in 1977. The toy was called a "3 position laser rifle." Kenner (and later, Hasbro) re-released this blaster rifle (without the folding stock on the original 1977 toy and in different colors due to changing laws in the United States dealing with toy and imitation firearms) on numerous occasions throughout the Star Wars toy line's history.

The game Star Wars: Battlefront II has several classes and at least one character who use the E-11. The four Imperial classes that use the E-11 as their primary weapon are the stormtrooper, the Imperial Marine, the Imperial Engineer, and the dark trooper, but the Imperial Engineer's model serves as a shotgun-type weapon, and the dark trooper's model is the Arc Caster, which fires bolts of electricity. The other character in the game to use this weapon is Boba Fett, but like the Imperial Engineer and the dark trooper, the E-11 is not used as a standard blaster rifle (the game refers to the blaster as the EE-3 Blaster Rifle, but uses the E-11 model to save disk space).

In Star Wars: Dark Forces and its sequels, the E-11 is presented as having two firing modes: a slower, more accurate mode and a faster, inaccurate mode for use in close quarters. It is also typically depicted as being somewhat inefficient in terms of energy consumption, burning two to three times the energy per shot of other weapons.

In Star Wars: Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast, while sneaking through a ceiling, the player can overhear two stormtroopers discussing the E-11. One complains of its excessive recoil seriously hampering accuracy. This dialog may have been included in the game to explain the stormtroopers' general failure to hit primary characters in the films.