Ultra-Light Assault Vehicle

The Ultra-Light Assault Vehicle (ULAV) was a tiny landspeeder used early on in the years of the Galactic Empire.

Characteristics
Sienar Fleet Systems' Ultra-Light Assault Vehicle was a compact, fast and agile repulsorlift assault vehicle.[2] Measuring seven meters in length, the ULAV was crewed by two; a driver, and a gunner.[4] To buy brand new, ULAVs cost between 20,000[1] and 50,000 credits;[3] used ULAVs traded for between 12,900[4] and 22,000 credits.[3]

Despite being a small craft, the ULAV mounted an impressive weapons array. Forward mounted weapons were controlled by the driver, and included twin light laser cannons[2] or double light blaster cannons,[1] and a concussion grenade launcher[2] with a magazine of six grenades.[1] The gunner controlled the rear mounted weapon which was usually either a medium[2] or heavy blaster cannon.[3] The rear mounted weapon was the ULAV's biggest design flaw. Although it had a firing arc of one-hundred and eighty degress, it could not fire in front of the ULAV, necessitating the driver to maneuver the ULAV into an optimum firing position by slewing the craft around. With the rear of the craft facing the enemy, the gunner was able to fire off several shots before the driver had to move the craft out of the way of return fire.[2]

The ULAV could reach speeds of four hundred kilometers an hour,[4] but had inefficient repulsorlift engines resulting in a ground clearance of only 0.6 meters which could cause problems when the vehicle travelled through underbrush or rocky outcroppings.[2] It had a cargo capacity of between five[4] and twenty-five kilograms, and a week's worth of consumables.[3]

When the ULAV entered service with the Alliance to Restore the Republic, they only had to perform minor modifications to make them effective combatants, including increasing the power flow, and adding ray shielding.