Ion cannon

An ion cannon is a weapon which fires high-energy ionized particles. These particles do little physical damage, but seriously interfere with the operation of electronics and computer systems, often disabling them outright. As a result, ion cannons are the weapon of choice for subduing, rather than destroying, enemy starships, vehicles, shields, or droids.

They are often used on capital ships, such as Destroyers, to facilitate the capture of enemy vessels. They can also be planet-based weapons, such as the Planet Defender.

However, there are certain types of ion cannons which are meant to do more physical damage with electrical disruption as a plus. These types of ion cannon, however, have the drawback of low firing rate and are often just replaced with heavy turbolasers.

One type of ion cannon was the Pranthe X-320, used to break through shielding and bring down heavily armored vehicles.