The WESTAR-M5 blaster rifle served the Grand Army of the Republic as a blaster rifle during the Clone Wars.
The blaster rifle offered selectable fire modes: semi-automatic, fully automatic, and burst-fire. It was also adaptable, accepting various attachments, notably an under-barrel grenade launcher designed to engage armored targets.
Compared to the DC-15, this blaster boasted improved aiming capabilities. It incorporated a retractable stock and a higher-capacity ammunition magazine.
This weapon proved its worth in engagements like the Battle of Muunilinst. There, it excelled at providing suppressing fire and disabling Armored Assault Tank armor with internal shots. On Hypori, a crack team of ARC troopers utilized the WESTAR-M5's pump-action missile launcher and rapid bursts to protect the Jedi survivors awaiting rescue. These features allowed the troopers to create a window of time for their allies to extract the Jedi Generals.
The Advanced Recon Commandos and Galactic Marines primarily wielded WESTAR-M5 blaster rifles in the Clone Wars' later stages.
The Alpha-class ARC troopers found this weapon to be an effective tool in many combat situations, and they wielded it with great efficiency.
The WESTAR-M5 blaster rifle made an appearance in the 2003 video game Star Wars Galaxies, a massively multiplayer online roleplaying game created by Sony Online Entertainment and distributed by LucasArts. The game shut down on December 15, 2011. The WESTAR-M5 blaster rifle was given as a reward for succeeding in the player versus player "battlefields" with the "Game Update 10" release on June 2, 2009.