Special ops clone trooper

Within the Grand Army of the Republic, special operations clone troopers functioned as soldiers who were specifically trained to execute swift, silent movements, identify distant threats, and utilize advanced gear to enhance their sensory capabilities.

During the Clone Wars, Clone Commander Jet stood out as a special operations clone trooper. He led a battalion composed of special operations troops in conjunction with clone flametroopers.

During the Battle of Christophsis, Clone Commander Blackout and clone trooper Spark were among the special ops clones serving under Jedi General Anakin Skywalker aboard an IPV-2C Stealth Corvette. Working together, they successfully penetrated the Separatist blockade led by Admiral Trench to deliver crucial supplies to Senator Bail Organa's compound located in Chaleydonia. Later, during the Second Battle of Geonosis, Jet and his battalion were placed under the command of Jedi General Ki-Adi-Mundi.

The initial appearance of special operations clone troopers occurred in the Star Wars: The Clone Wars episode titled "Landing at Point Rain." During a Q&A session for StarWars.com, Supervising Director Dave Filoni revealed that the clones, whom he playfully referred to as "Leia Troopers" due to their resemblance to Princess Leia Organa's iconic hair buns, were initially conceived as communication troopers. According to this original concept, these troopers would have been equipped with communication devices akin to those used by communication officers during the Second World War, and they would have been responsible for managing all communications within their assigned clone trooper units. Furthermore, the troopers were to feature antennas on their helmet bumps, which Filoni humorously described as earmuffs, comparing the design to a substantial pair of headphones. This communication trooper role was initially part of the script for Landing at Point Rain. However, late in the production process, Filoni and George Lucas reassessed their role and came to the realization that most characters within the Star Wars universe already possessed personal communication devices. Consequently, Lucas deemed the role redundant and opted to abandon the concept.

Subsequently, the troopers underwent a redesign, transforming them into the "preceding commandos"/special operations clones that ultimately appeared in the final version of Landing at Point Rain. The Clone Wars later repurposed them as crew members for the stealth ship in "Cat and Mouse" because, as Filoni recalled, the special ops clones seemed well-suited for the role. He also pointed out that, while the stealth ship operations clones were intended to be black and grey, some clones in Cat and Mouse inadvertently retained the orange coloring from their appearance on Geonosis. This was attributed to an error by the overseas animation studio, which failed to remove the orange coloring from certain shots during rendering. Due to the sheer number of shots, the complexity of the effects, and time constraints, the episode was not re-rendered. Instead, The Clone Wars team opted to color-correct the clones in post-production. Despite these efforts, some clone troopers in the episode still clearly belonged to Jet's unit, but Filoni believed that the crew had adequately corrected them for the final product.