Cloaking device / Legends The cloaking device was a mechanism capable of rendering an object invisible to both sensors and / or the naked eye . Description . While sensor jammers could leave a starship invisible to sensors , cloaking devices generated cloaking fields that completely absorbed all incoming sensor scans while shielding the host ship ' s emissions and reflected energy , thus rendering the starship invisible to both sensors and the naked eye . A single cloaking device unit towered over the average Human with a balloon - shaped computer core standing over a series of cloaking field antennas . Below lay the power cells , which were connected to the cloaking field matrix by a series of wires . The only sensor capable of sensing a " cloaked " vessel was the expensive and rare Crystal gravfield trap , which tracked the gravitational fluctuations created by a large mass in space . Thus , any cloaked vessel was unable to hide from the CGT . However , such cloaking shields also came at a disadvantage to their users because they drained a large amount of energy from the starship ' s power plant , and ( though dependent on the size of the device ) a single unit cost millions of credits . The hibridium model cloaking device ' s worst drawback was perhaps the " double - blind " nature of the cloaking shield , which also blocked the host ship ' s scanners and communication systems . Crews and passengers on cloaked ships were unable to peer beyond the cloak ' s shroud . Since visual navigation was impossible , any other form of navigation could only be exercised by preprogramming astrogation routes . The vessel was thus effectively isolated from the rest of the galaxy . Communications , combat operations , and sensor sweeps could only occur when the cloaking field was lowered or disabled . The cloaking device did nothing to impair senses dependent on the Force , however , and trained Force users could detect even cloaked ships in battle with ease . Another drawback common to both was that a cloaked ship could be tracked was by the ship ' s magnetic signature . This tactic , used mostly by Separatist commander Admiral Trench , allowed tracking torpedoes to be fired and follow the ship even if it was cloaked . Operational history . The Sith Empire planned to utilize Adegan crystal s to create an invisible stealth armada . Cloaking devices were once fairly common , based on stygium crystals mined on the planet Aeten II in the Dreighton Nebula . However , as the crystal supply dwindled , cloaking devices followed suit , until there were none left at all . Before the rise of the Galactic Empire , cloaking devices were virtually unknown , but not unheard of . Around 32 BBY , Sienar Design Systems developed and built a cloaking field generator for Darth Maul ' s " Scimitar " , powered by stygium crystals . Jango Fett also had one , which had been added onto " Slave I " by Mentis Qinx , a dockyard owner on Tatooine , in 22 BBY . The stated that any ship found with a cloaking device installed should be captured intact if at all possible . During the Clone Wars , Jedi General Anakin Skywalker piloted a Stealth ship with a powerful cloaking device through the Blockade of Christophsis commanded by Admiral Trench . Anakin was able to utilize the stealth ship against Trench by using Trench ' s own tracking torpedoes against him . Thus the ship helped to break the blockade surrounding Christophsis for the time being . Later in the Clone Wars , the fleet of CIS Admiral Pors Tonith utilized cloaking devices in its ships , including the flagship " Corpulentus " . These ships used the device to their advantage during the Battle of Praesitlyn . The " Rogue Shadow " , Galen Marek ' s transport , had an experimental cloaking device onboard that used stygium crystals in its operation . Emperor Palpatine ' s personal " Lambda " - class T - 4a shuttle was also rumored to be equipped with a stygium cloak . By the time of the Battle of Yavin , Aeten II ' s reserve of accessible crystals had been depleted , making the manufacture of new stygium - based cloaks a virtual impossibility . Grand Admiral Martio Batch managed to create a cloak based on hibridium obtained from Garos IV , but it was inefficient and suffered from double blindness — occupants of a starship using one could no more see the rest of the galaxy than the rest of the galaxy could see them . This double blindness limited its military effectiveness . Batch sent the " Tarkin " to Aeten II , where it blew up the planet , exposing thousands of previously unreachable stygium crystals for Batch to use . He recreated the old stygium technology and applied it to the Phantom TIE project , but Rebel saboteurs completely destroyed the project , including an " Executor " - class Star Dreadnought equipped with a stygium cloaking device that housed the project , the " Terror " , and Batch was forced to flee . Several weeks before the Battle of Endor , a Rebel task force led by Rogue Squadron destroyed a cloaking device project to be implemented on an " Executor " - class Star Dreadnought at Fondor . Wedge Antilles , piloting a captured TIE Hunter , flew into the vessel ' s trenches and destroyed the three cloaking relays . The resulting explosion not only destroyed the Star Dreadnought , but also the Imperial shipyard in which she was housed . Palpatine also commissioned a second team to work on the Vorknkx Project , aiming to make improvements to the hibridium cloak under the supervision of Grand Admiral Zaarin . After Zaarin attempted to overthrow the Emperor , control of the Vorknkx Project passed to Grand Admiral Thrawn . The team successfully equipped the CR90 corvette " Vorknkx " with a hibridium cloak but were unable to overcome a problem which made the device unstable when entering hyperspace . Knowing that Zaarin was obsessed with obtaining the best technology , Thrawn allowed him to capture the Vorknkx , which was destroyed when Zaarin attempted to flee into hyperspace while cloaked . During the chaotic years of the Galactic Civil War , the gangster - turned - warlord Tyber Zann would utilize a fleet of frigates and destroyer s , as well as F9 - TZ Transport s , equipped with some form of cloaking device . He and his lieutenant Urai Fen were also equipped with their own personal cloaking device s . The original hibridium cloak prototype found its way to the Emperor ' s storehouse on Wayland , where it remained hidden until the return of Grand Admiral Thrawn . Thrawn used the technology in a number of creative ways , including hiding a shipload of TIE / LN starfighter s and mole miners as " empty cargo " in the Battle of Sluis Van ; using cloaked asteroids as a unique siege engine at Coruscant ; and carefully lining up ships above and below a planetary shield ( with the ones beneath the shield cloaked ) so fire from the orbiting ships would appear to pass right through the shield . This tactic led to the conquest and occupation of several New Republic member worlds including Sluis Van and Ukio without the heavy damage to lives , industry , and resources sustained during most conventional planetary invasions . After Thrawn ' s death , innovation in finding a use for the device focused on the Computerized Combat Predictor . Ten years later , the Predictor still performed insufficiently to warrant further hope . The Empire Reborn used a shuttle that was equipped with a one - way cloaking device . In 14 ABY , Jedi Knight Jaden Korr went to Yalara on a mission of destroying the planet ' s cloaking device , to prevent the Imperial Remnant from laying hands on it . However , the clone Grodin Tierce , who had been created with some of Thrawn ' s own thought processes , found a new use for the cloaking device , hiding three Star Destroyers in the outskirts of the Bothawui system , guiding them in by use of a comet that barely grazed the cloaking field . The use of cloaking devices was outlawed by the Pellaeon – Gavrisom Treaty . Behind the scenes . In " " , the Bothan Spies for the Rebels have an ability called Stealth . This is a one way cloaking shield . The one way part may be due to game mechanics . The " Knights of the Old Republic " games also featured stealth - generating belts rendering the user invisible .