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Droid fighter · Separatists
Vulture droid
The Separatists' droid starfighter: a fighter that is its own pilot, and folds its wings down into legs.
- Model
- Vulture-class droid starfighter
- Maker
- Haor Chall Engineering
- Length
- 6.96 m
- Width
- 4.9 m
- Height
- 1.86 m
- Crew
- None (droid brain)
- Top speed in atmosphere
- 1,200 km/h
- Armament
- Blaster cannons · Energy torpedoes · Buzz droid launcher
SeparatistsCompare on the scale
Overview
The vulture droid is the standard starfighter of the Trade Federation and the Separatists, and it needs no pilot: the droid brain is built into the craft[2]. In flight it is a slim, winged fighter; on the ground its wings fold down into legs and it walks[1][3].
Haor Chall Engineering made it. Early units took orders from a Droid Control Ship, while later ones are semi-autonomous[2]. Vulture droids swarm the skies over Naboo in The Phantom Menace and over Coruscant in Revenge of the Sith[1][2].
Length 6.96 m
Width 4.9 m
How it flies and fights
Chronicle
Key moments in the ship's life, in story order. Spoilers stay hidden until you mark the title as watched in the timeline.
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32 BBY
Episode I — The Phantom Menace
Spoiler from Episode I — The Phantom MenaceShowyou've watched it
Droid fighters pour out of the Trade Federation's Droid Control Ship to face the Naboo N-1 starfighters. When the control ship is destroyed, every droid shuts down[1].
-
19 BBY
Episode III — Revenge of the Sith
Vulture droids and the buzz droids they carry attack Republic and Jedi fighters in the opening space battle over Coruscant[2].
Where it flew
Where to see the Vulture droid
Films, series and games with the Vulture droid, in story order.
Episode I — The Phantom MenaceMovie · 1999Two Jedi find young Anakin Skywalker on Tatooine, while the Sith come out of hiding.
The Clone Wars (2008 movie)Animated movie · 2008Anakin Skywalker and his new Padawan, Ahsoka Tano, must rescue Jabba the Hutt's kidnapped son.
The Clone WarsAnimated series · 2008–2020Anakin, Obi-Wan, Ahsoka and the clone troopers fight across the galaxy in the war between the Republic and the Separatists.
Episode III — Revenge of the SithMovie · 2005The Clone Wars come to an end, and Anakin Skywalker's turn to the dark side changes the galaxy forever.
Jedi: SurvivorGame · 2023Cal Kestis, now a seasoned Jedi, searches for a safe haven from the Empire for himself and his crew.
Variants
Behind the scenes
- Early concepts put a battle droid in the cockpit. The final design is the droid itself: its wings fold down into legs, so the machine reads as both a robot and a vehicle[3].
- ILM built two 18-inch maquettes as references for the digital model, one flying and one walking. Animators moved each trio of fighters as if they shared a single mind[3].
Did you know
- A single Trade Federation battleship could carry around 1,500 vulture droids, so even a small fleet could launch thousands of them[2].
Vulture droid: questions and answers
How big is a vulture droid?
A vulture droid is about 7 metres long in flight (6.96 m), a little more than half the length of a city bus, and 1.86 metres high[1].
