The Defender-class assault carrier, a type of starfighter carrier, was initially put into service by the New Republic not long before the Black Fleet Crisis.
These vessels functioned as platforms for starfighters, possessing only minimal weaponry. They lacked substantial armaments, equipped solely with 20 light anti-starfighter laser cannons for defensive purposes. The Defender-class assault carrier featured a Class 1 hyperdrive and required a crew of 4,050, in addition to 20 gunners.
Besides its complement of starfighters, the Defender-class assault carrier also accommodated assault shuttles and various troop transports for its complement of 700 soldiers.
With a length of 700 meters, the Defender-class was initially conceived as part of the Defender program during the New Republic's early years. Eventually, they were incorporated into the New Class Modernization Program, through which these assault carriers also provided their core hull design to the Majestic-class heavy cruiser.
Each ship of this class served as a base for three New Republic wings, sometimes composed of a uniform type of starfighter. The majority of Defender-class carriers within the New Republic Fifth Battle Group supported E-wing starfighter wings, while a select few were dedicated to supporting K-wing bomber wings. Only one ship actually carried Defender starfighters, which it was originally intended to carry.
The sole official depiction of the Defender-class assault carrier can be found within the RPG sourcebook titled Cracken's Threat Dossier. Similar to the illustrations of other New Class ships, this image presents challenges when compared against information from The Black Fleet Crisis novels, upon which Cracken's Threat Dossier is based: the Majestic and Defender classes bear little resemblance to each other, despite the claim that they share a common hull design. Consequently, determining the "true" appearance of these two classes remains difficult.
Cracken's Threat Dossier initially stated that the assault carrier housed a single wing of fighters. This equates to 36 fighters within the New Republic's forces, a surprisingly small number for a dedicated carrier of its dimensions. The later publication, The Essential Guide to Warfare, offered the more plausible information that three wings were intended to be accommodated.