A deflection tower was a shield generator found on large space stations and planets. On the first Death Star, they helped generate a large deflection shield around the battle station, only allowing one-man starfighters to enter. Deflection towers were a primary target for Red Squadron during the Battle of Yavin before attempting their bombing run on the exhaust port. The towers also served as power terminals.
Deflection towers were mainly seen being used by the Galactic Empire, in place of the ISD-72x deflector shield generator dome, which were seen on many Imperial ships. Deflection towers took up much more room than deflector shield generator domes, which were mainly designed to protect capital ships. This extra room allowed for more powerful shields with much more range than standard shielding technology.
Many such structures were found on space stations such as the Death Stars. They were often guarded by turbolaser turrets.
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