The Variable Geometry Self-Propelled Battle Droid, Mark I (also known as the Vulture-class droid starfighter or simply as the vulture droid) was a droid starfighter used by the Trade Federation. Later, in much greater numbers, it was utilized by the Confederacy of Independent Systems. It participated heavily in the Clone Wars, at engagements such as the Battles of Kamino and Coruscant.
Like most of the Trade Federation’s armed forces, it carried no living pilot, but rather a droid brain that was linked to a central control computer, often aboard a Lucrehulk-class Droid Control Ship. Each Trade Federation battleship carried 1,500 such droid starfighters.
The Vulture-class was designed by Haor Chall Engineering, which was founded by the fanatical Xi Char, a religious order dedicated to high-precision manufacturing. As a result, it represented classic Xi Charrian design— an insectoid appearance, multiple weapons emplacements, and a compact body that offered only a small target for enemy fighters.
The Vulture droid’s first appearance was in the novelization of Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. In the early plans for The Phantom Menace, the Trade Federation was intended to use more conventional starfighters that were merely piloted by B1-Series battle droids, like those in the Battlefront games. An early concept sketch depicted a fighter whose cockpit strongly resembled those of the TIE Series. It was later decided that the fighters should themselves be droids.
In the Clone Wars cartoon, Vultures are depicted with brown coloring during the attack on Coruscant, despite being depicted as blue in the film. This can be considered an artistic inconsistency in the cartoon, though the cartoon itself was released before the movie. In the games Star Wars: Battlefront and Star Wars: Battlefront II, Vulture droids (as well as other droid starships, such as the Droid Tri-fighter) are depicted as requiring a pilot. This can be attributed to game mechanics. During the movie The Clone Wars, Vulture droids fire their blaster cannons from their energy-torpedo ports rather than from between their wings. This is possibly due to artistic license; however, it’s established that Vulture droids can fire blaster bolts from their torpedo emitters but primarily only when they are in walker mode. This may have also been done to make animating and tracking the shots easier for the animators.
There is a size variation of the Vulture droid (despite being much larger than the average droid). The difference is visible on the Star Wars: The Clone Wars TV series and Revenge of the Sith. Until now, the figures of the vulture droid that have been made by Hasbro and listed in Star Wars: Episode I Incredible Cross-Sections match exactly with the established size of 3.5 meters, as can be seen in Cartoon Network‘s animated mini-series. In 2009, Hasbro stipulated that the new larger model of the droid starfighter will be released as an action figure.
Five variations of the Vulture Droid Starfighter were released by the LEGO Company, in 1999, 2005, 2007, and, for Star Wars: The Clone Wars, 2009 and 2014.