The All Terrain Advance Raider (AT-AR), also known as the light AT-ST or simply scout walker, was a variant of the All Terrain Scout Transport used by the Galactic Empire during the Galactic Civil War.
A pair of stormtroopers in the cockpit of an AT-AR
A variant of the All Terrain Scout Transport, the All Terrain Advance Raider had heavier armor than the AT-ST for frontline combat. It was also smaller and faster, though only armed with a single laser cannon. Its "head" had an angular viewport, while a blister was located on either side of the walker's head. The cockpit sat one pilot and one gunner side-by-side.
A variant of the All Terrain Advance Raider, featuring additional weapons attached to its blisters and a body and legs resembling that of an AT-ST, saw service on Cilpar, while another had relatively thin armor and went by the name light AT-ST.
In the year 0 BBY, AT-ARs were part an Imperial garrison established in Mos Eisley spaceport on the planet Tatooine. Other garrisons also had AT-AR walkers in their arsenal, such as the one on the jungle world of Jarnollen. There, an AT-AR pursued Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa after they were discovered by the local Imperial troops. The walker hunted them throughout the night and the next morning, losing track and coming across the rebels several times in the dense jungle. At the end of the chase, as it prepared to fire a clear shot, the walker was destroyed by the Millennium Falcon. After the Alliance to Restore the Republic abandoned its base on Yavin 4, AT-ARs were used during the Empire's campaign on Reytha. They were outfitted at the retaken base in the planet's capital city of Yeere before advancing with the troops to retake other areas.
An AT-AR variant on Cilpar.
In 3 ABY, AT-ARs formed part of General Maximilian Veers' Blizzard Force and participated in the Battle of Hoth. An AT-AR saw combat with the garrison on Mandalore, where it faced opposition from Mandalorian rebels led by Fenn Shysa. During a mission to Cilpar, an AT-AR formed part of an Imperial convoy that carried Winter Celchu, disguised at the time as Leia Organa, to a local base in capital city of Kiidan.
The All Terrain Advance Raider was originally created for the Star Wars Legends newspaper comic strip The Bounty Hunter of Ord Mantell, written by Archie Goodwin and penciled by Al Williamson, which ran from February 9 to April 19, 1981. Before it was first identified in the 2004 reference book Inside the Worlds of Star Wars Trilogy, the 2001 real time strategy game Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds referred to the AT-AR as the "light AT-ST." It was based on early concept art of the All Terrain Scout Transport (dubbed the "one-man scout walker") developed by Joe Johnston for The Empire Strikes Back, and the All Terrain Defense Pod was derived from the same sketch.
- Inside the Worlds of Star Wars Trilogy
- Star Wars: Complete Locations
- The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia
Concept art of the "one-man scout walker," whose design inspired that of the AT-AR and the AT-DP