Field armor worn by an Imperial officer over their uniform is referred to as Imperial officer battle armor. It included torso armor and a blast helmet, with a rank insignia plaque located on the upper left of the chest plate, and an officer's disk on each side of the helmet. Matching the color of the uniform beneath, the armor came in a couple of primary forms. During the Mimban campaign, officers belonging to the 224th Imperial Armored Division used the chest plates without the helmets. A prior iteration, used by the year 4 BBY, featured a chest plate and helmet mirroring those of an Imperial combat driver, but lacking the faceplate. Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin was seen wearing a gray version of this armor when he encountered Kanan Jarrus following his capture on Lothal. Officer Viggen also sported this version during his skirmish with Commander Ryden on Imvur. A later version was implemented, incorporating a snowtrooper's chest and back armor, along with a helmet almost the same as that of an AT-ST driver, in addition to a holster and goggles. The one Grand Admiral Thrawn wore was white, and included golden shoulder boards, similar to the ones found on his regular tunic. Governor Arihnda Pryce donned this armor during a mission together with Rukh. General Maximilian Veers wore olive-colored battle armor during the Battle of Hoth, and also had a utility belt containing mission data. During the New Republic Era, the chest armor was painted to represent the Warbird gang, a pirate group, with glowing red eyes and a strange symbol on the front and back, two stripes on the left pad, and one stripe painted down the middle of the blast helmet. This modified armor was worn by the gang's leader, Captain Kragan Gorr.
The Imperial officer battle armor was initially designed for the 1980 movie Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back. It was first formally identified in the episode guide for "Zero Hour," the twenty-first and twenty-second episodes of Star Wars Rebels' third season, which were first broadcasted on March 25, 2017.
John Mollo considered various options for the Imperial generals featured in The Empire Strikes Back. At one point, Veers was going to be a "field commander" and would wear an Imperial tunic with heavy decorative edging and several insignia, along with an ornate gorget instead of body armor. Different types of headgear were also considered, such as a wide-profile earphone cap and an embellished Imperial field cap. Mollo's final design for Veers during the Battle of Hoth incorporated elements of the snowtrooper costume to provide visual consistency within the Imperial forces.
Veers wore the same chest, back, and belly armor as snowtroopers, which was vacuum-formed, over his standard Imperial uniform. However, his armor was olive-colored to match his officer uniform and had different greeblies compared to snowtrooper armor. Imperial-rank insignia bars were also added to match Veers' dress uniform. To ensure the general was ready for combat, a sidearm holster was attached to the belt. Veers' helmet, like his body armor, was made from the same mold as the snowtrooper helmet, giving it the same basic shape. However, it lacked the eyepiece and vinyl bib found on the front, and the olive helmet had more decorative elements greeblies than the snowtrooper version. An aluminum bar ran down the back of the helmet, along with an intricate greeblie mounted on the temple and two small "Imperial discs" on either side of the bottom corners. The interior of the helmet was also finished with olive vinyl, as it was visible on camera. It was augmented with a pair of dark goggles, a chinstrap, and a microphone piece. Only two helmets were created for production, but they were used as a basis for the AT-ST driver helmets created for Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi.