AT-AT
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The All Terrain Armored Transport (AT-AT), also called the Imperial Walker, was a major part of the Galactic Empire's army in the fictional Star Wars universe. They were assembled by Kuat Drive Yards, and evolved from the previous built AT-TE Walkers, made for the Clone Wars.
AT-ATs are "walking" armored personnel carriers; large, four-footed machines resembling mechanical camels. Some literature describes the AT-AT at 15.5 meters tall, but onscreen measuring places them closer to 25 or even 30 meters or possibly even taller than that, for the AT-AT seems much taller than 40 meters to the public. Their primary purpose was transportation of more vulnerable units across the battlefield. It could carry either 40 Imperial Stormtroopers and five speeder bikes or two AT-ST units (partially disassembled due to height issues). Snowtroopers under combat conditions could be deployed via rappeling cable, but the heavier ordnance could only exit upon the slow and comparatively awkward process of the AT-AT kneeling and extending its ramps.
The arsenal of the AT-AT was also devastating, as they possessed two chin-mounted heavy laser cannons to destroy slow, bulky targets and two temple-mounted medium blaster cannons which could engage lighter targets. Oddly, the AT-AT lacked any rear or top mounted weapons, leaving it with significant blind spots (particularly anti-air defence), although it countered this with strong protection that would deflect such potential attacks. The armor plating was extremely resistant to blaster fire, and the sturdy legs could walk over — and thereby crush — people and equipment.
AT-ATs could be configured to operate in varied planetary environments, known as the dunewalker when configured for desert terrain, or the familiar snow-walker for icy planets such as Hoth. An aquatic version, known as the AT-AT swimmer, also existed; the legs were traded for repulsorlifts, allowing the transport to function as a hovercraft.
At the Battle of Hoth in Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, the Empire used walkers to land beyond the limits of the Rebel Alliance's shield. General Maximillian Veers commanded the ground forces and advanced on the shield generator. Faced with such forces, Luke Skywalker devised a strategy to disable the walkers: his team of snowspeeders would use their magnetic harpoons and tow cables to entangle the walkers' feet, causing them to fall, exploiting their high centre of gravity. Wedge Antilles and his gunner Wes Janson managed to disable one walker this way. It was then finished off with a Snowspeeder blaster shot to its vulnerable area just behind the neck. Luke destroyed a second by cutting a hole in it with his lightsaber and tossing in a thermal detonator. When the Imperial walkers were destroyed, their entire crew and troop complements were apparently lost as well. In the Empire Strikes Back novelization, a third AT-AT was lost when it mortally injured but did not destroy Hobbie's speeder; the Rebel pilot suicidally steered his doomed craft into the command pod of the AT-AT.
Despite this, the Battle of Hoth was one of the most devastating losses for the Rebels in the entire Galactic Civil War.
AT-ATs later patrolled the garrison base on the Forest Moon of Endor, although they apparently did not take part in the battle against the Ewoks and Rebels.
AT-AT pilots are specially trained soldiers from the Imperial Army. They wear white armor similar to that of TIE pilots.
It may be possible that the AT-ATs at the Battle of Hoth had better armor than the normal AT-AT, as evidenced by the apparent surprise by the rebels that their blasters were useless against them. Another possibility was that the Rebels had little experience facing AT-AT's and most of their anti-vehicle artillery batteries at Hoth were outdated even against weaker vehicles. The canonical Star Wars Customizable Card Game, for example, grants substantially greater power and armor values to units under General Veers' command as well as unique names (Blizzard One, Blizzard Two, etc). However, many Star Wars-themed video games such as Star Wars: Battlefront and Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire allow the player to destroy walkers with blasters, albeit with great difficulty.
The AT-ATs deployed on Hoth were moving much slower than top speed, 60 km/h (37 mph). Possible reason for this were for psychological reasons, extra armor and/or equipment, or because of Hoth's rough snowy terrain. An AT-AT is an odd sight moving at its top speed and can be seen moving this quickly in the computer game Star Wars: Empire at War.
When piloted by excellent pilots (such as the pilots in General Veer's walker), an AT-AT is nearly invincible, even when the tow cable method is used against it. The walker can show surprising flexibility with good pilots, and when combined with its great firepower, it is anything but defenseless against snowspeeders. This is even though the AT-AT lacks any rear or top mounted weapons for anti-air defence. This can be seen in Episode V when a snowspeeder comes head on against General Veer's AT-AT. Without seeing any open shots, the speeder pilot veers to the right. Seeing this, the expert walker pilots perform a maneuver where it leans on and stretches its legs, and moves its head to the side. The walker's "cheek" cannons clip the speeder, sending it spinning out of control, until it crashes in a fireball. The original version of the PC game Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds had snowspeeders immune to AT-AT fire, but the expansion pack later retracted this vulnerability.
AT-ATs in the Expanded Universe
The AT-AT mostly supplanted the older HAVw A5 Juggernaut as the choice for leading Imperial ground assaults.
The AT-AT, in the service of the Army of the Republic, first saw action in the Clone Wars during the Battle of Jabiim.
Inside the Worlds of Star Wars Trilogy shows that AT-ATs and AT-STs were deployed from the Y-85 Titan Dropship.
Sometime after the Battle of Endor, the Empire's AT-ATs replaced their lasers and blasters with light turbolasers, easily capable of defeating many hardened defensive weapons emplacements.
Trivia
According to George Lucas, the AT-ATs were based on the tripod fighting machines from The War of the Worlds. He also took inspiration from elephants (and even had the model designers and animators study their movements to get the pondering gait right for The Empire Strikes Back) and loading cranes at San Francisco Harbor.
LEGO has made two versions of the AT-AT. One is a miniature version, and the other is a larger one with over 1000 pieces retailing at about $100.
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