At the time of the Galactic Civil War, the R-28 was overshadowed by the Rebel Alliance's use of the wildly popular T-65 X-wing starfighter during their fight against the Galactic Empire, and as a result production was postponed until long after the conflict came to an end. After the establishment of the Galactic Alliance during the Yuuzhan Vong War decades later, the early designs were eventually upgraded with modern technologies and engineering innovations. The R-28 served as an important intermediate step between the T-65 and the latest model of X-wing, the X-83 TwinTail starfighter, which shared several of the same parts as the R-28.
Former Old Republic Jedi Master A'Sharad Hett used an R-28 to travel to the Unknown Regions at some point before the start of the Yuuzhan Vong War in 25 ABY, where he was attacked by a Vong advance force and crashed his fighter inside one of the invaders' scout ships.
The ship was still in production during the reign of Darth Krayt's Galactic Empire in the year 137 ABY. By this time, the R-28 had become a common craft used in local defense forces as well as by civilian pilots. Though outdated, the antique design remained one of the most common starfighters in the galaxy. Due to using the same parts, some R-28 factories would occasionally produce X-83s despite the latter ship being banned by the Empire.
- Legacy Era Campaign Guide