The pincer maneuver, also known as Pincer Movement, or simply known as a pincer, was a naval, infantry, and ground vehicle tactic used to entrap a target between attackers. When used as a ground tactic, the maneuver involved flanking a target between attacking vehicles or infantry. As a naval tactic, it sought to trap a target starship between attacking warships.
The Nikardun Destiny was known to utilize the pincer maneuver heavily in the Unknown Regions as part of their starfighter tactics. The Nikardun military utilized the maneuver against Chiss Ascendancy warships during the Raid on Rapacc in approximately 19 BBY. At the mission to the Lioaoin heartworld also around 19 BBY, Senior Captain Mitth'raw'nuruodo (core name "Thrawn") was able to deduce that the Lioaoi had come under the influence of the Nikardun Destiny because they used the pincer maneuver at their homeworld, and the maneuver was a very unusual tactic for the Lioaoin military's navy.
In 4 BBY during the Galactic Civil War, Imperial Security Bureau agent Alexsandr Kallus led an assault against rebel and former clone trooper forces on the planet Seelos. He ordered his forces of All Terrain Armored Transports to use a pincer maneuver to flank the All Terrain Tactical Enforcer belonging to the clones Wolffe, Gregor, and Rex.
In approximately 3 BBY, insurgents led by Nightswan and freed Wookiee slaves attacked the Imperial space station Lansend Twenty-Six in an attempt to liberate their enslaved companions. Commodore Thrawn, commander of the Imperial I-class Star Destroyer Chimaera, brought his Star Destroyer to bear against the attacking rebels at the space station. Imperial Navy officer Zenoc, the colonel in command of Lansend Twenty-Six, informed Thrawn that the station had been boarded by rebel insurgents who attempted to capture the station via an infantry pincer maneuver. The rebels succeeded in capturing parts of the station, which Thrawn then ordered Zenoc to evacuate and seal off. Thrawn defeated the insurgents by blasting the rebel-held sections, leading to the death of many combatants and the capture of all who remained alive.
TIE fighters executing a pincer maneuver on the Millennium Falcon before the liberation of Rekkana
Some time after the battle of Endor, New Republic general Lando Calrissian, pilot Nien Nunb, and the Lepi smuggler Jaxxon undertook a mission to free Rekkana from an Imperial remnant that ruled that planet. Piloting the Millennium Falcon, they were flanked in a pincer maneuver by TIE fighters after exiting hyperspace into the star system containing Rekkana. The native Rekk species were known to be skilled at artificial intelligence, and the TIE's flanking the Falcon executed the maneuver with such skill and precision that Lando speculated that the attacking TIE's were piloted by AI rather than Imperial pilots.
The pincer maneuver first appeared in Star Wars canon in the Star Wars Rebels episode "Relics of the Old Republic," which premiered at the New York Comic Con on October 8, 2015. In the Legends continuity, the pincer maneuver first appeared in Timothy Zahn's 1992 novel Heir to the Empire.
- Star Wars Rebels: Visual Guide: Epic Battles
- Star Wars: Battles that Changed the Galaxy