The Umbaran hover tank (UHT) was a single-pilot repulsorcraft tank built by Ghost Armaments and used by the Umbaran Militia. The cockpit was built around an armored control pod flanked by twin conducting vanes that each housed an electromagnetic plasma cannon. The plasma cannon had the capability to decimate entire platoons of enemy troops with a single blast. The conducting vanes rotated and split open to serve as landing struts when the vehicle was powered down in a docked configuration. Although its cockpit was armored, the tanks had two main weaknesses. They were slow and vulnerable from attacks from the side, since the cannons were long-range and could not rotate quickly to fire effectively on enemies not directly in front of it, as well as attacks up the middle at a close enough range that the cannons could not aim at the attacker.
Umbaran heavy cannons repel Republic clone troopers
The Umbaran Militia deployed these vehicles during the Battle of Umbara. As the 501st Legion landed on the planet, the Umbarans set a line of hover tanks on a nearby ridge as well as one below the ridge that caused many casualties to the Republic clone troopers that were approaching them head on. However, as the troops began to deploy AT-RTs, the fast and versatile walkers dodged the incoming fire and reached the hover tanks, easily destroying them from the side and clearing the path for the troopers on foot to dig in and take cover as more Umbaran forces arrived.
Umbaran hover tanks first appeared in "Darkness on Umbara," the seventh episode in the fourth season of the animated television series Star Wars: The Clone Wars.
- Star Wars Helmet Collection 45
- Star Wars Encyclopedia of Starfighters and Other Vehicles