Elite Squad Troopers, or ES troopers, were special forces troopers who served the early Galactic Empire prior to the termination of cloning production on Kamino. In the aftermath of the Clone Wars, Elite Squad Troopers were a pathfinder division for the eventual rise of conscripted soldiers in the Imperial Army, which, at the time, consisted entirely of the clone troopers who once served the Galactic Republic. Imperial officers such as Vice Admiral Edmon Rampart and Admiral Wilhuff Tarkin supported the Empire's initiative to supplement and eventually replace the clones with willing recruits.
A team of highly trained Elite Squad Troopers, ES-01, ES-02, ES-03, and ES-04, served under Clone Commander Crosshair. Their introduction to the ranks of the Imperial Military threatened the interests of the Kaminoans, whereas Tarkin saw them as further evidence that the Empire would be better served by a cheaper conscription force than an expensive clone army.
Clone stormtroopers comprised the Imperial Army prior to the recruitment of enlisted soldiers.
Elite Squad Troopers originated from Project War-Mantle, a project that aimed to eventually replace clone troopers with conscripted soldiers after the formation of the Galactic Empire. Although the soldiers of the Grand Army of the Republic became the first generation of stormtroopers, enforcing the New Order of Galactic Emperor Sheev Palpatine across the galaxy, Admiral and Governor Wilhuff Tarkin considered cloning an exorbitant demand on the Imperial economy.
With the end of the Clone Wars and the collapse of the Separatist leadership, the Emperor ceased to support the Kaminoan scientists who bred the clone army. In addition, the Empire did not consider itself beholden to the contract between its predecessor, the Galactic Republic, and the Kaminoan government, which stipulated the continued production of clone troopers.
Elite Squad Troopers were the first non-clone soldiers recruited through Project War-Mantle.
Vice Admiral Edmon Rampart supervised the recruitment and training of the Empire's first non-clone troopers. Although the Imperial officer recognized the clones as efficient soldiers, he argued that the Empire did not have to depend only on cloning to produce loyal troops. Rampart was particularly interested in individuals who volunteered to enlist in the Imperial Army, seeing extreme potential in their willingness to serve the Empire whereas the clones were programmed for loyalty. Though assigned to the planet Kamino to oversee the clone troopers, Rampart used his new position as an opportunity to present four enlisted recruits to Tarkin. Chosen for their exceptional skills, their names were replaced by alphanumeric designations—ES-01, ES-02, ES-03, and ES-04—as they became the first Elite Squad Troopers.
The first Elite Squad was sent to Onderon under the leadership of Clone Commander Crosshair.
Prime Minister Lama Su had argued that conscripts were inferior to the clones who trained throughout their accelerated childhood, but Rampart countered that his recruits were capable of gaining the same skills with an experienced clone as their instructor. With Rampart's suggestion in mind, Tarkin placed the Elite Squad under the leadership of Clone Commander Crosshair, an enhanced clone and the sole member of Clone Force 99 whose programming compelled him to remain loyal to the Empire. The members of Crosshair's Elite Squad were subjected to tests and observation during their stay in the cloning facility of Tipoca City. ES-01 became agitated by the Kaminoans' medical droids, stating that he enlisted to serve a soldier rather than a test subject. When ES-04 wondered who they would fight with the Clone Wars concluded, ES-01 revealed that he was motivated by the practical benefits that the Empire offered in exchange for service in the Imperial Military, such as food, shelter, and a salary. He recalled that this opportunity never existed for him under the Republic, which had favored clone soldiers over enlisted recruits throughout the Clone Wars.
The Elite Squad and their clone commanding officer were deployed to Onderon with orders to exterminate a group of insurgents led by Saw Gerrera. During the journey to the Onderonian homeworld, ES-01 expressed his doubts about whether a clone was suited to the military rank of commander, especially given that the Empire had begun limited recruiting of natural-born humans to supplement clone units. Like Tarkin and Rampart, ES-01 anticipated a future where the Empire no longer relied on clones, but for the time being he was willing to serve under Crosshair's command.
Crosshair's Elite Squad executed civilians on Onderon, despite ES-01's objection which resulted in his death.
The special forces unit ambushed Gerrera's followers in the forest, killing most of them and preventing the rest from escaping aboard an LAAT/le patrol gunship. Gerrera was not with the group during the attack, however, leading Crosshair to interrogate the prisoners, most of whom were non-combatant civilians. Crosshair was willing to execute them, having determined that they did not know the whereabouts of Gerrera, but ES-01 opposed the commander's actions. While the trooper considered Gerrera's fighters legitimate targets, he did not view unarmed civilians as such, and refused to comply with orders that he deemed immoral. However, ES-01 was consequently executed by Crosshair for attempting to relieve the clone of command. The remaining members of the Elite Squad complied with the Clone Commander's orders, using their weapons to kill the prisoners.
The early accomplishments of the Elite Squad further convinced Wilhuff Tarkin and Rampart that recruitment was preferable to cloning.
Tarkin and Rampart welcomed the Elite Squad's return to Kamino as well as Crosshair's report on the destruction of Gerrera's camp. Despite Gerrera's survival, Tarkin noted that the kill order he issued had been obeyed by the clone's squad, whereas Crosshair's former team—Hunter, Tech, Wrecker, and Echo—disobeyed the governor. The death of ES-01 was dismissed by Rampart as an "unfortunate" but acceptable loss given the risks associated with military service. The completion of the mission convinced both Imperial officers that the Empire could dispense with and replace cloning with conscription as the primary method for maintaining the military. However, Tarkin concluded that the Empire was not ready to abandon clones entirely; he therefore decided that the clone trooper program would remain intact for the time being.
Tarkin then departed from Kamino, leaving Rampart to oversee the clone troopers as well as the new stormtrooper program that threatened the status of the "old guard." While Tarkin approved of Rampart's initiative to improve the Elite Squad Troopers by having them train under an enhanced clone such as Crosshair, their success in the field concerned Lama Su and Doctor Nala Se. As the genetic material of Jango Fett was becoming less reliable for the production of new clone troopers, the Kaminoans were determined to create a superior clone in the hope of securing their future with the Empire, focusing their efforts by trying to reclaim the young clone Omega, who had escaped with Clone Force 99. As Project War-Mantle continued, a training facility was established on the planet Daro, where clone commandos would train recruited humans as the next generation of Imperial soldiers, who were dubbed "TK troopers."
Meanwhile, Elite Squad Troopers under Crosshair continued to operate within Tipoca City on Kamino. When Clone Force 99 where located on the planet Bracca, Crosshair's Elite Troopers and a force of clone stormtroopers were deployed together, although they failed to prevent Clone Force 99's escape. Afterward, Crosshair and his team were assigned to the planet Ryloth, which had been a battlefront during the war and was becoming unsettled with Imperial occupation, alongside Rampart. There, the Elite Troopers worked alongside a battalion of clone stormtroopers stationed around the capital of Lessu. When Crosshair framed Twi'lek revolutionary Cham Syndulla for the attempted assassination of Senator Orn Free Taa on Rampart's order, Elite Squad Troopers and clone troopers arrested Syndulla, his wife Eleni, and their allies.
Elite Squad Troopers and clone troopers arrest Captain Howzer and his rebellious allies.
With Clone Force 99 brought into the incident by Syndulla's daughter Hera, the Elite Troopers again were faced by Clone Force 99, who helped the Twi'leks escape. Clone Captain Howzer also rallied several of his fellow clone troopers to defy the Empire, resulting in Crosshair ordering the Elite Troopers and the still-Imperial loyal clones to arrest Howzer and his contemporaries. The destruction of a nearby Imperial doonium refinery also convinced Rampart to grant Crosshair the permission to hunt down Clone Force 99. In time, two additional Elite Squad Troopers joined Crosshair's squad as well. With Project War-Mantle in full force through the facility of Daro and the Elite Squad Troopers, the Empire formally terminated its cloning contracts with Kamino and began the process of pulling all forces and resources from the world.
When Lama Su attempted to escape Kamino with Nala Se and several other officials, Rampart ordered Se be taken away to leave Kamino with the Empire, while Su was left to the Elite Squad Troopers and arrested when Rampart declared he had no place in the Imperial Era. Meanwhile, Hunter was captured after breaking into the Daro facility and brought to Kamino by Crosshair and his Elite Squad. As the Empire moved the finalize its withdraw, Crosshair stationed his Elite Squad within the Tipoca City Training Facility to wait for the rest of Clone Force 99 to arrive on a rescue mission. In secret, Crosshair also positioned reflective discs around the training course, which would allow a single blaster bolt to ricochet across the room and take out the entire squad where they stood, should his troops refuse what he intended to do with Clone Force 99: it was Crosshair's hope that he could convince his brothers to rejoin the Imperial Army, which he did not tell his Elite Troopers.
Commander Crosshair wipes out his own Elite Squad Troopers to prove his devotion to his brothers.
As Trooper ES-02, who had expressed doubt to Rampart as to what Crosshair intended to do with his former squad, was sent to find Omega, Crosshair gave his brothers a chance to join the Imperial Army, much to the shock of his Elite Squad. When his squad refused to stand down, he fired a single blaster bolt that, just as he had prepared, rebounded off the reflective discs and took out the squad. ES-02, meanwhile, was knocked out by Omega and medical droid AZ-3. By the time she had awoken and returned to the training course, a force of DT-series training droids had been activated by Omega as a distraction that arrived too late, forcing Clone Force 99 and Crosshair to fight together. Briefly exchanging fire with one of the droids after seeing her commanding officer fight alongside his brothers amid the corpses of the Elite Squad, ES-02 escaped and informed Rampart that Crosshair had lost control of the situation.
Just before Rampart issued an aerial bombardment order to his Venator-class Star Destroyers, ES-02 escaped Tipoca City aboard the last Rho-class Transport Shuttle to leave. As Tipoca City was fired upon and crumbled into the waters below, the corpses of Crosshair's Elite Squad Troopers were left abandoned within the Training Facility. Crosshair himself would escape the destruction with Clone Force 99, but he resolved to stay with the Empire instead of leaving with them.
Elite Squad Troopers were natural-born human recruits with exceptional combat skills.
Elite Squad Troopers were highly skilled enlisted recruits. They were tasked with neutralizing anti-Imperial insurgents throughout the galaxy in order to prove the effectiveness of non-clone troops.
Vice Admiral Rampart introduced the first Elite Squad Troopers as some of the best trained soldiers in the galaxy to Governor Tarkin. Given sufficient time and resources, Rampart believed that his soldiers had the potential to become an unprecedented military force. It was the Vice Admiral who suggested that the Elite Squad Troopers complete their training with a skilled clone, such as Crosshair, as their instructor and commanding officer. Lama Su had argued that recruited conscripts would never achieve the caliber of the clone troopers who were trained since their creation, however Rampart countered that clones' skills could be learned by enlisted volunteers.
Elite Squad Troopers wore modified armor that was near-identical to that of the clone troopers.
Elite Squad Troopers wore stealth-fitted clone trooper armor that was constructed from a reflec polymer-coated plastoid, and specially designed to fit the individual bodies of non-clone conscripts who differed from the genetically identical clone troopers. This version of the armor was similar to the Phase II clone trooper armor, consisting of armor plates worn over a black body glove, although its primary color was black and the helmet lens was green. The Elite Squad used the same weapons as standard clone stormtroopers, such as the DC-15A blaster carbine and the DC-15A blaster rifle. Additionally, ES-04 carried a BT X-42 heavy flame projector during her time in Crosshair's squad.
A version of the Elite Squad Trooper's armor was worn by Crosshair, and was therefore similar to the design of his old Katarn-class Commando Armor. Aside from the new armor, Crosshair continued to use the 773 Firepuncher rifle and a DC-17 hand blaster, weapons which had served him during his time as a sniper in Clone Force 99. Another case of clones in similar gear came with the Clone guards active under the Empire's Inquisitorius, who wore a suit of dark clone trooper armor much like that of the ES troopers.
The figure of an Elite Squad Trooper
Elite Squad Troopers were created for the animated Disney+ series Star Wars: The Bad Batch and first appeared in "Replacements," the third episode of the show's first season which was written by Matt Michnovetz, directed by Nathaniel Villanueva, and released on May 14, 2021. Prior to their debut, they were first pictured in a trailer released on December 10, 2020 and first identified in a StarWars.com article published on January 29 that revealed merchandize for the series.
In the Star Wars: Tales of the Empire episode "Devoted," Purge Troopers appear using the same character model as the Elite Squad Trooper.