The Owool Interceptor was a heavily armed, single-pilot starfighter. It was conceived by the Wookiees at the shipyard of KashyCorp following the conclusion of the Swarm War in the year 36 ABY. Deployed during the Second Galactic Civil War, these interceptors were originally intended for the Galactic Alliance. However, when the New Jedi Order opted to leave the Alliance, the Wookiees also withdrew their support. Consequently, the Owool Interceptors were instead utilized by Wookiee pilots. Certain Wookiees piloted these robust starfighters in service of the Jedi when the Galactic Alliance ignited sections of the Wookiee home planet of Kashyyyk with fire, and later during the final engagement of the conflict near the world Shedu Maad.
The Owool Interceptors were heavy starfighters powered by twin engines. They boasted a formidable array of weaponry, including four laser cannons and two ion cannons. Furthermore, they were capable of deploying Jedi shadow bombs when necessary. Manned by a sole pilot, the Owool provided ample cockpit space for a Wookiee standing 2.26 meters tall. This cockpit was situated within the tapered fuselage of the brown starfighter, which was also equipped with a hyperdrive. The starfighter's design featured a pair of engine mounts, each also housing laser cannons, connected to either side of the fuselage by a spar. These mounts rose slightly above the cockpit, giving the starfighter a fork-prowed wedge-like appearance from the front. Military observers characterized these craft as resilient, swift, and as fiercely determined as the Wookiees who crafted them.
The Owool Interceptor served in roles that included attacking enemy capital ships and engaging in starfighter combat. It also had the capacity to provide fighter escort for allied starships.
The Owool Interceptors were conceived and engineered by the Wookiees of the newly formed shipyard KashyCorp in the years after the [Swarm War](/article/swarm_war], which concluded in 36 ABY. The first Owools were completed around 40 ABY, during the Second Galactic Civil War between the Galactic Alliance and the Confederation. Despite KashyCorp's initial agreement to supply the heavy starfighters to the Galactic Alliance, the Wookiee Rock Council ceased supporting the Alliance following the New Jedi Order's withdrawal, preventing the Owools from being delivered as planned.
In 40 ABY, Darth Caedus, the Sith Lord serving as the Chief of State of the Galactic Alliance, deployed the Galactic Alliance Fifth Fleet to the Wookiee homeworld of Kashyyyk, an Alliance member. Caedus demanded that the Wookiees surrender his parents, Han Solo and Leia Organa, who were aligned with the Jedi who had abandoned the Galactic Alliance. This refusal provided Caedus with a pretext to assault Kashyyyk, his true aim being to compel the Confederation Fleet to defend the Wookiees instead of pressing their advance toward the Galactic Alliance's capital world of Coruscant. With the Fifth Fleet positioned over Kashyyyk, a squadron of Owool Interceptors, piloted by Wookiees and led by the Wookiee Jedi Knight Lowbacca, was sent to intercept the capital ships. When the Wookiees declined to hand over Solo and Organa, Caedus' flagship, the Imperial-class Star Destroyer Anakin Solo, commenced firing upon Kashyyyk's forests, setting the Wroshyr trees on fire.
In retaliation for the attack, the Owool squadron, whose count of fighters was half the number of capital ships in the Fifth Fleet, attacked the Anakin Solo. Under Lowbacca's command, the Owools flew along the Anakin Solo's hull, navigating the larger vessel's firing lane toward the bridge and using the flash-static from the Star Destroyer's turbolasers to obscure them from its sensors. Despite some Owools falling victim to the capital ship's anti-starfighter defenses, Lowbacca successfully struck the bridge with a shadow bomb, inflicting substantial damage. In the ensuing combat, the Jedi intervened against Caedus' forces for the first time in defense of Kashyyyk, and the fleet elements of the Jedi and their allies, along with those of the Confederation, forced the Fifth Fleet to retreat.
In 41 ABY, Wookiee-piloted Owools were present in the Hapes Cluster, specifically within the hangar of a Hapan Battle Dragon warship. This warship served as a staging point for an upcoming Jedi Coalition operation in the Roche system, aimed at having Caedus' sister, Jedi Knight Jaina Solo, assassinate the Sith Lord. The Owool Interceptors were intended to provide fighter escort for Skipray 24r Blastboats during the mission. However, Luke Skywalker, the Jedi Grand Master, deemed them unnecessary and ordered them to stand down, predicting that a fighter escort would already be present in the Roche system for the blastboats.
After Caedus survived the assassination attempt and the Galactic Alliance secured victory in the Roche system, Caedus traced the Jedi to their secret base on the planet Shedu Maad within the Hapes Cluster's Transitory Mists. He arrived with the Anakin Solo, the Super-class Star Destroyer Megador, and a fleet from the Imperial Remnant. With Uroro Station, a space station near Shedu Maad, acting as a decoy for the Jedi base, a squadron of Owool Interceptors launched from the station as part of the starfighter force that engaged the approaching Anakin Solo and Megador. However, the Owools and other Jedi Coalition fighters encountered resistance from the two capital ships' own starfighter squadrons, leading to intense dogfights forming near the Anakin Solo and the Megador. Ultimately, Caedus was killed by his sister, and the Jedi Coalition forces triumphed over Caedus' fleet, bringing the Second Galactic Civil War to an end.
The Owool Interceptor made its initial appearance in Inferno, which was the sixth novel in the Legacy of the Force series. It was penned by Troy Denning and released in 2007. Darren Tan provided the first illustrations of the heavy starfighters in 2012's The Essential Guide to Warfare.