Imperial Small Craft Organization

The smallest unit that Imperial TOE/smallcraft carries is the Element. It is expected to fight as one craft, regaurdless of the number of craft actually in it.

Element = 2 fighters (usually TIEs)
1 drop ship
1 shuttle (except TIE deritives)
1 Blastboat
2 space capable probe droids

The smallest unit considered for a deployment by the Navy is a Flight.

Flight = 2 Elements
1 Landing Barge
1 Light or Medium Transport
1 Customs or System Patrol Craft

The smallest unit that is preferred for deployment by the Navy is a Squadron. Note that an Army Squadron and Navy Squadron are different units.

Navy Squadron= 3 Flights
1 Bulk Transport
Squadron types (Navy):
Fighter = 12 fighters, usually TIE/ln
Interceptor = 12 interceptor fighters, usually TIE Interceptors, but sometimes TIE/ad, TIE/ln+, or other low production craft. In older wings made of TIE's, the TIE/ln is considered an interceptor.
Bomber = 12 light bombers, usually TIE/gt's, /ae's or TIE Bombers.
Recon = 4 TIE/rc's
8 TIE/ln's (often an element of /ln's is replaced with /rc's)
Scout = 4 TIE/fc's,
8 TIE/ln's (often an element of /ln's is replaced with /fc's)
Hunter = 2 TIE/fc's,
2 TIE/rc's,
8 TIE/ln's (often augemented with TIE/gt's)
Transport Squadron = 3 light to medium transports,
1 transport often replaced with 2 cargo shuttles
Strategic Transport = 1 bulk transport
Support Squadron = 2 transport flights,
100 ground personnel,
20 security troops.
Intended to support remote operations.
Shuttle Squadron = 6 shuttles, usually mixed types
Drop Squadron = 6 drop ships. Intended to quickly place troops on the ground.
Landing Squadron = 3 landing barges. Intended to place large numbers of troops on he ground with their armour and artillery support.

Army Squadron = 5 Elements (usually TIEs)

The smallest unit assigned to a ship if the Navy had it's wishes is the Group. Groups are usually only assigned to escort ships acting alone. If they are working in a team, 2 Groups for a Short Wing, while three Groups with three mother ships is the preferred. The Army does not use Groups.

Group = 2 Squadrons
Group Types:
Escort Group: 1 fighter squadron
1 composite squadron (2 TIE/fc's, 0-2 /rc's, 0-2 /gt's, the remainder /ln's
Assault Group: 1 drop squadron
1 bomber squadron (usually with graft TIE/rc's)

The largest unit of small craft usually considered is a Wing. A wing is the standard book keeping unit of small craft, and varies in size between Army and Navy. Wings are of mixed Squadron types.

Navy Wing = 6 Squadrons = 3 Groups
Wing types (navy):
Fleet Wing: The typical wing assigned to an ISD or an escort line
3 fighter squadrons
1 interceptor squadron or fighter squadron
1 bomber squadron
1 scout, recon or hunter squadron
Assault Wing: Used for hard ground suppression missions.
2 fighter squadrons
1 interceptor or fighter squadron
1 scout or hunter squadron
2 bomber squadrons
Interceptor Wing: Used to secure flag ships and key facilities.
3 fighter squadrons (to be replaced with interceptors based off availability)
2 interceptor squadrons
1 hunter or recon squadron
Recon Wing: Used for reconnaissance purposes where there is not air parity or worse.
2 fighter squadrons
3 recon squadrons
1 scout squadron
Scout Wing: Used to provide forward observation support, usually to Naval Bombard Squadrons.
2 fighter squadrons
3 scout squadrons (1 sometimes replaced with a hunter squadron)
1 bomber squadron
Hunter Wing: A multi-role support wing to provide recon and targeting data, and exploit that data by itself if needed.
3 hunter squadrons
2 fighter squadrons
1 bomber squadron
Strategic Recon Wing: Used only under special circumstances
5 recon squadrons
1 interceptor squadron
Drop Wing: Intended as a self contained beachhead unit.
2 fighter squadrons
1 bomber squadron
2 drop squadrons
1 landing squadron
Fleet Transport Wing: Fleet lifting capabilities, often augmented.
2 shuttle squadrons
2 drop squadrons
2 landing squadrons
Transport Wing: Heavy lifting capabilities.
6 shuttle, transport and strategic transport squadrons in any mix.
Army Wing = 4 Army Squadrons

More theoretical than anything else, a Formation is the largest official unit of Naval smallcraft. They are usually of mixed Wing types. This is the is the size of the force carried by the new Executor-class Star Destroyers.

Formation = 3 Wings + command ship
Augmenting Small Craft Units

The smallest augmentable unit is the squadron, with no more than 2 Elements grafted on. These are often specialist craft attached for tactical reasons (such as TIE/fc's assigned to a Bomber Squadron).

In units larger than a Group, the augmented elements are formed into separate squadrons. A fully augmented wing has 46 Elements (92 TIEs)

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