Z-95 Headhunter
Z-95
History of Z-95 Headhunter
The Z-95 Headhunter, also referred to as the Z-95 starfighter or simply the Z-95, was a multi-purpose starfighter jointly manufactured by Incom Corporation and Sublights Products Corporation. Despite being considered outdated, the Z-95 was durable and adaptable to a variety of different roles, which led many to recognize it as a versatile and respectable snub-fighter of its era. Countless variants of the Headhunter were produced, including one model designed specifically for the Grand Army of the Republic's clone pilots during the Clone Wars. The Z-95 was the forerunner of Incom's popular T-65B X-wing starfighter. Jointly manufactured by Incom Corporation and Subpro, the Z-95 Headhunter entered production during the Clone Wars and spawned countless variants. The Galactic Republic made its own mark on the Headhunter's large production run with a clone-specific model. Reaper Squadron was one unit that flew Headhunters. Decades after the end of the war, the wreckage of one of Reaper Squadron's Z-95s was recovered from Castilon's Karavian Trench by Synara San. Even after the war had ended, Z-95s were extremely common. Idryssa Barruck flew a Headhunter during her time with Saw Gerrera's Partisans, and several modified with basic hyperdrives and upgraded weaponry were used by Berch Teller's rebel cell in its fight against the Galactic Empire. Hask Taff, a member of Teller's cell, used several Headhunters to craft a false holovid that was transmitted to the Empire's Sentinel Base. The signal was meant to deceive the Imperials into believing that their Rampart Station had fallen under attack, thus inciting them to protect the station and leave Sentinel Base vulnerable. However, Moff Wilhuff Tarkin, the base's commander, detected that the message was a fraud and instead set a trap for the insurgents, who were immediately ambushed upon entering the system and forced to retreat into hyperspace. The rebels later used Z-95s to attack an Imperial convoy near the Gulf of Tatooine; all but one were obliterated, as Teller used the remaining Headhunter to escape to the planet Christophsis while the rest of his cell was captured and summarily executed. A gang of Pakiphantos also used Z-95s modified with proton cannons. The gang tried to capture the Millennium Falcon on Dhandu 3, but were outflown or outgunned. During the Galactic Civil War, the Alliance to Restore the Republic continued to use Z-95s. Despite being slightly slower and less maneuverable than its successors, including the T-65B, the Z-95 proved a close-air-support staple of the Rebel Alliance Starfighter Corps. The TIE fighter pilots of the Imperial Navy referred to Z-95s as "skulls." During a battle on Portocari, Rebel Headhunters killed an Imperial pilot named Barsay. Though they had long been retired from military use, Z-95s were a favorite among smugglers, gangsters, pirates, and a variety of others seeking to do both legitimate and illegitimate business twenty-nine years after the end of the Galactic Civil War. In one instance, Resistance pilot Poe Dameron acquired three Z-95s for a covert mission designated Operation: Sabre Strike. Pilots with the Citizens' Fleet flew Z-95s during the Battle of Exegol in 35 ABY.
Z-95 Headhunter is also known as; Z-95
