The Razor Crest, also known as M-111, functioned as an ST-70 assault ship utilized by the Mandalorian bounty hunter, Din Djarin. Before the Galactic Empire's emergence, it was a military patrol vessel. Din Djarin eventually acquired the ship, using it as a mobile base of operations while pursuing bounties throughout the Outer Rim Territories during the early New Republic era. It served him well during the search for Grogu, the child, and on his mission to find Grogu's species in 9 ABY. During a skirmish on Tython, Gideon's light cruiser destroyed the Razor Crest with a single shot.
The Mandalorian bounty hunter Din Djarin's ship, the Razor Crest, was originally constructed as a military gunship—more precisely, an ST-70 assault ship (its official designation), though commonly called the "Razor Crest"—before the formation of the Galactic Empire in 19 BBY, and fulfilled the role of patrolling territories. This starship was outfitted with a hyperdrive, two engines, and a pair of laser cannons, which Djarin upgraded for increased firepower. A single pilot could operate it, with space for two additional passengers. The cargo hold housed various amenities such as a carbonite freezing chamber, a weapons locker, and a vacc tube. Djarin claimed that the ship could initiate "ground security protocols," providing substantial protection.
Constructed prior to the Galactic Empire's rise in 19 BBY, the Razor Crest survived the subsequent Imperial Era. It was still operational during the reign of the New Republic, having come into the possession of the Mandalorian bounty hunter Din Djarin by approximately 9 ABY. Djarin utilized it as both his personal residence and a means of transporting captured criminals throughout the Outer Rim Territories.
Around that year, Djarin journeyed to the ice planet Pagodon, apprehended a Mythrol, and returned to the ship via a ferry. Upon seeing the ship, the Mythrol remarked to Djarin that it was junk and offered to pay for a better vessel. Djarin ignored the comment, but as they prepared for departure, a ravinak attacked the ship's landing gear, pulling it downward. However, Djarin fended off the creature using his Amban phase-pulse blaster. After freezing the Mythrol in carbonite, Djarin went back to Nevarro to deliver his bounties to Greef Karga, the leader of the Bounty Hunters' Guild. After accepting his next bounty from the Client, he traveled to the desert planet Arvala-7.
Upon reaching Arvala-7, Djarin secured his bounty and returned to the ship with the target. Nevertheless, a Jawa tribe had scavenged the Razor Crest for components, rendering it unable to take off. With the assistance of the Ugnaught Kuiil, Djarin located the tribe and negotiated for the parts, agreeing to acquire a mudhorn egg. After exchanging the egg for the necessary components, he rebuilt the ship with Kuiil's help and left the planet.
Djarin, back on Nevarro with Grogu, handed in the bounty. Following a change of heart, he rescued Grogu and started heading back to the ship, only to be stopped by the Bounty Hunters' Guild. With help from his tribe, Djarin managed to escape back to his ship. Karga, who had secretly boarded the ship during the gunfight, threatened him, but was shot and knocked out of the ship, after which Djarin and Grogu departed Nevarro.
The bounty hunter then set a course for Sorgan, a forest planet, landing some distance from the local town. Considering the area unsafe for Grogu, Djarin headed back to the Razor Crest, but was approached by krill farmers Caben and Stoke, who asked for his help in defending their village from raiders. The farmers helped Djarin unload supplies from the ship. Following the battle at the village, Djarin and Grogu were forced to leave the planet after discovering that the Guild was still after him.
While in space, the Razor Crest came under attack by bounty hunter Riot Mar in his fighter. One of the gunship's engines sustained damage, causing a fuel leak. Djarin braked, causing Mar to fly past him, and shot him down from behind. Djarin was forced to make an emergency landing in Hangar 3-5 on Tatooine. Peli Motto, the bay's mechanic, and her crew of DUM-series pit droids, repaired the gunship while Djarin went to Chalmun's Spaceport Cantina to find work, meeting and partnering with rookie bounty hunter Toro Calican to capture Fennec Shand, a mercenary. While Motto worked on the repairs, Grogu left the ship, and the curious Motto began looking after him. After Calican betrayed him, Djarin returned to the bay to find the rookie holding Motto and Grogu hostage at the Razor Crest's entrance ramp. After killing Calican, Djarin boarded the gunship with Grogu and left Tatooine, paying for the repairs with the money he got for killing Shand.
Djarin flew the Razor Crest to a space station hangar bay where Ranzar Malk, known as "Ran," convinced him to join a crew of mercenaries to rescue Qin, an imprisoned ally from the Bothan-5, a New Republic Correctional Transport. Ran told Djarin that he wanted him for the job only because of his ship. The team, led by Migs Mayfeld, an ex-Imperial sharpshooter, included Burg, a Devaronian, Q9-0, a droid known as "Zero," and Xi'an, a Twi'lek mercenary. Upon seeing the Razor Crest, Mayfeld immediately questioned its airworthiness, comparing it to a "Canto Bight slot machine."
Djarin reluctantly allowed Zero to pilot his ship during the mission. While checking the Razor Crest's systems, Zero found a garbled hologram transmission from Karga and described the ship as a mess. Zero questioned the use of Razor Crest, saying that despite the modifications, the ship had leaking power lines, intermittent navigation, and the hyperdrive was operating at 63.3% efficiency. However, Ran replied that the gunship was off both Imperial and New Republic grids and that it could jam New Republic codes. Ran explained that the plan involved boarding the space station through its blind spot, which was why Zero would be piloting.
Djarin and the crew then left the space station on the Razor Crest. Tensions rose between Djarin and Burg during the journey, and they began to fight, accidentally opening a compartment containing Grogu. Mayfeld and the others examined him, speculating about his origins. Mayfeld joked about taking Grogu as his own pet. The Razor Crest then exited hyperspace directly above the New Republic prison ship and maneuvered to land on the ship's hull, shaking the crew. Djarin opened a hatch beneath the Razor Crest to enter the prison ship.
Zero stayed on the Razor Crest and redirected the security alert while the rest of the crew searched for Ran's ally on the prison ship. During the mission, Lieutenant Lant Davan, a New Republic soldier from the New Republic Correctional Corps, activated a tracking beacon, and Zero warned the crew that New Republic reinforcements would arrive in twenty minutes. After finding Qin, Xian's brother, Mayfeld and his crew betrayed Djarin and locked him in a cell. Meanwhile, Zero reviewed Djarin's transmissions and learned about his troubles with the Bounty Hunters' Guild and Grogu's importance to the Guild. Djarin escaped his cell and blocked communications from Zero, who then found Grogu standing outside the cockpit. Zero grabbed a blaster and began searching for Grogu, who had run away.
Zero found Grogu, but Djarin, who had returned to the ship after defeating the rest of Mayfeld's crew, shot him in the back. Djarin flew the Razor Crest back to Ran's space station with Qin as his prisoner and collected the reward for Qin's rescue from Ran. As Djarin quickly left in his ship, Ran waved farewell to his old friend before ordering his men to kill him. However, as a gunship began to take off, Qin realized that Djarin had put a New Republic tracking beacon in his pocket. Several New Republic X-wing starfighters arrived and attacked the space station before Ran and Qin could launch a ship to defend themselves.
While on the Razor Crest, Djarin watched a hologram transmission from Karga, who insisted that the Client was their mutual enemy and asked for the Mandalorian's help in taking the Client out. Karga proposed that if Djarin brought Grogu back to Nevarro as bait to eliminate the Client, then Karga would clear his name and Djarin could keep the infant. Before returning to Nevarro, Djarin took the Razor Crest back to Sorgan and enlisted the help of Cara Dune, an ex-shock trooper for the Alliance to Restore the Republic who had helped on Sorgan. Back on the Razor Crest, Djarin and Dune discussed the mission and prepared for the coming battle in the cargo hold. In the cockpit, Grogu played with the ship's controls and causes the Razor Crest to veer sharply.
Dune pointed out that they needed someone to watch over Grogu, so they returned to Arvala-7 to recruit Kuiil and his recently reprogrammed droid IG-11. Kuiil also convinced Djarin to let him bring his three blurrgs. During the flight to Nevarro, Djarin and Dune had a game of arm wrestling. Grogu, thinking the Mandalorian was in danger, Force choked Dune before being stopped by Djarin. Kuiil helped Djarin create a new pram for Grogu in order to keep him safe and out of sight.
When the Razor Crest arrived on Nevarro, Djarin and his team were greeted by Karga and three other bounty hunters. The team agreed that Djarin, Kuiil, and Dune would ride the blurrgs, while IG-11 stayed behind to guard the ship and Grogu. Later, after the plan to overthrow the Client's forces failed and the team was exposed, Kuiil attempted to flee with Grogu back to the Razor Crest, but was gunned down shortly before reaching the ramp by two scout troopers on 74-Z speeder bikes. The scout troopers kidnapped the infant and attempted to return him to the Client's superior, Moff Gideon. IG-11 thus left the ship in order to pursue them and rescue Grogu. After a successful rescue and escape from Gideon's forces, Djarin and his crew returned to the Razor Crest with Grogu where Djarin buried Kuiil and gave the infant his mythosaur necklace. Dune and Karga remained on Nevarro while Djarin left with Grogu.
Din Djarin went back to Tatooine to find a Mandalorian rumored to be living in Mos Pelgo, but only found Cobb Vanth, an impostor who had been using Mandalorian armor to protect the town. After Djarin obtained the armor, Peli Motto used her connections to give him a new lead, but in return, Djarin had to transport a passenger and her clutch of eggs to the estuary moon of Trask, a journey that had to be made at sublight to protect the eggs.
A New Republic patrol interrupted what would have been a slow and uneventful trip near Maldo Kreis. Carson Teva and Trapper Wolf hailed the Razor Crest for a routine inspection, but soon realized that the ship had been involved in the raid on Bothan-5. Djarin steered the Razor Crest into Maldo Kreis' atmosphere and canyons to escape the New Republic pilots, and a harrowing maneuver through a glacial passage seemed to work. However, the Razor Crest proved too heavy for the patch of ice it landed on. The ice gave way, and the ship fell into an ice cave, sustaining significant damage to the hull and engine nacelles.
Tired from the chase and lacking the resources to fully repair his ship, Djarin wanted to rest, but his passenger insisted that he deliver her and her brood to Trask safely. Time was important, as the eggs were vulnerable to cold. While Djarin tried to get the Razor Crest working again, the passenger wandered deeper into the cave and found a natural hot spring, forcing Djarin to find her with Grogu. The group was then attacked by a swarm of knobby white ice spiders, who had nested near the hot spring. Taking refuge in the Razor Crest's cockpit, the trio were surrounded and outnumbered, but Teva and Wolf arrived in time to save them. The New Republic pilots decided to let Djarin go free since he had tried to protect Lieutenant Davan back on the Bothan-Five and forfeited the bounties on three priority criminals he had detained there, but did not help repair his ship and left. The Razor Crest still had a ruptured main hold and battered engines, but Djarin sealed himself, Grogu, and the passenger in the cockpit of the Razor Crest, the only compartment that was still airtight, and lifted off.
The Razor Crest limped to Trask sometime later, but landing there almost destroyed the ship. After hurtling through the atmosphere at dangerous speeds, unavoidable due to the Razor Crest's decrepit state, Din Djarin narrowly avoided crashing into a landing platform, but the ship still tumbled into the sea and sank when an engine suddenly died just before touchdown. After a heavy industrial crane transport recovered the craft, Djarin's first task was to pay a dock worker 1,000 credits for repairs. When the Mandalorian returned after meeting Bo-Katan Kryze and two of her Nite Owls, and helping them capture an Imperial Gozanti-class cruiser that belonged to Moff Gideon's fleet, the Razor Crest was once again space-worthy, though in much worse condition. As a resigned Djarin guided the scarred vessel back into space, it shed various parts and panels.
While trying to reach Corvus, the planet where Din Djarin had been told he could find Ahsoka Tano, a Jedi, by Bo-Katan, the Razor Crest's hyperdrive failed. Djarin had Grogu climb into a narrow duct to try and rewire the mechanism, but the infant was too inept, and Djarin had no choice but to detour to Nevarro for more thorough repairs. Upon landing at the city, Djarin was greeted by Cara Dune and Greef Karga. Karga promised the Mandalorian that repairs for the Razor Crest could be arranged, and quickly ordered two workers to restore the vessel to its prime. In the meantime, Karga recruited Djarin for a raid on an Imperial base that still threatened Nevarro's safety and prosperity.
During the raid, Djarin learned that Moff Gideon was still alive, and that he needed Grogu's blood and was still searching for him. Fearing for Grogu, Djarin left the Imperial base ahead of his companions and rushed back to the city. Karga, Dune, and a Mythrol fought their way out of the base and escaped aboard a Trexler 906 Armored Marauder, drawing pursuit from five scout troopers and four Outland TIE fighters. Karga used the Marauder's turret to take out the scout troopers and one of the TIEs, but the latter's debris destroyed the turret and the other three TIEs were poised to strike. At that moment, the Razor Crest, now fully-repaired, crept up from behind the TIEs and blasted them from the skies. Karga invited Djarin to land for a drink and payment for his timely assistance, but the Mandalorian declined, accepting the repairs to his ship as payment enough, and immediately set off for Corvus. However, Djarin was unaware that the Mimbanese worker who had fixed the Razor Crest was an Imperial collaborator and had concealed a tracking beacon on it, giving Moff Gideon a new opportunity to procure Grogu for his experiments.
Din Djarin then visited Corvus and met the former Jedi Ahsoka Tano, who revealed that the Child's name was Grogu, but refused to train him. Instead, Tano sent the Mandalorian to Tython, where Grogu could use a Seeing stone to reach out with the Force and possibly contact another Jedi who would be willing to train him.
At Tython, Djarin landed the Razor Crest at the base of the mountain that held the temple, since the mountain's peak had no area large enough to accommodate the ship. Since Djarin wasn't expecting any visitors, he left the ship open and unsecured. Shortly after Grogu began meditating in the temple, Djarin was alarmed by the arrival of another vessel, Slave I, and headed down the mountain to intercept the possible threat. Djarin found himself outgunned by Boba Fett and Fennec Shand, though the two only sought to reclaim Fett's armor, which Djarin had taken from Cobb Vanth on Tatooine. Before they could negotiate a trade, an Imperial troop carrier descended from the skies and touched down next to the Razor Crest.
A battle began, as Fett and Shand focused on eliminating the stormtroopers while Djarin tried in vain to retrieve Grogu from his meditation. As a second troop carrier landed with reinforcements, Fett made his way to the Razor Crest and donned his armor in time to return to Djarin and Shand, who had become surrounded. Fett quickly drove the stormtroopers into a headlong retreat, then destroyed both fleeing troop carriers with a single well-placed missile. However, the trio's victory was short-lived, as a single blast from a turbolaser fired by Moff Gideon's light cruiser blasted the Razor Crest into pieces, and a contingent of dark troopers arrived and captured Grogu.
Very little remained of the Razor Crest. Djarin sifted through the wreckage, which had been scattered across a crater, but only recovered the beskar spear he had acquired on Corvus and the control knob that Grogu had been fond of playing with. Djarin did not dwell long on the loss of his ship, and left Tython with Fett and Shand aboard Slave I, heading for Nevarro to find a way to rescue Grogu.
After his ship's destruction, Djarin reached out to Peli Motto, hoping to find a replacement that was similar in make and model. Motto informed Djarin that she had located a suitable replacement; however, Djarin was disappointed to find out it was not another ST-70 Assault Ship. Instead, it was an N-1 starfighter that was still being repaired by Motto. Despite this, Djarin agreed to assist in the starfighter's repair and customized it to align with his personal preferences and specific needs. When Djarin took the fighter out for an initial test flight, he initially flew it as if it were a gunship due to his familiarity with the Razor Crest's handling. However, he quickly adapted and learned to control it in a manner more appropriate for a starfighter.
The Razor Crest was initially referenced in a video titled The Mandalorian Panel - Sunday, which was uploaded to the official Star Wars YouTube channel on April 4, 2019. The gunship made its debut appearance in "Chapter 1: The Mandalorian," which was the first episode of The Mandalorian Season One, and was directed by Dave Filoni. This episode was released on November 12, 2019.
Jon Favreau conceived the craft, and Ryan Church, a veteran concept artist from Lucasfilm, designed it. Favreau's design inspiration was the A-10 Thunderbolt 'Warthog'. The models created were both practical and computer-generated. The designers were inspired by World War II plane aesthetics, military-style aircraft, and abandoned planes found in airport graveyards.