TIE / D automated starfighter The TIE / D automated fighter , or droid / drone TIE fighter , was a TIE Series starfighter used by the reborn Emperor Palpatine during his attacks on the New Republic in 10 ABY . Characteristics . The TIE / D automated starfighter took the standard TIE Series command pod with twin ion engines and twin laser cannons , additional armor plating and rectangular wing panels with adjustable pitch were added . Despite their heavier armor , they could actually reach a higher atmospheric speed than the TIE / IN interceptors — overall , they were fast , small , and very expendable . A single TIE / D cost 170 , 000 credits . The starfighter had rectangular solar arrays with a movable wing servo to fuel the power generator . The 6 . 3 meter - long craft was capable of 100 MGLT . Instead of a living pilot , the craft was equipped with a Cybot Galactica Ace - 6 droid brain . The 10 - kilogram unit allowed Sienar Fleet Systems to increase the TIE / D ' s shielding . History . The TIE / D was initially developed by General Arndall Lott , one of many post - Endor warlords . Sienar Fleet Systems engineers based the TIE / D on their original TIE / LN starfighter , and as a result , many of the vehicle ' s design elements came from the standard TIE . With the automation experiment of the " Katana " fleet as his original inspiration , General Lott ' s first attempts at automated combat systems were based on slaving multiple war machines to a single remote pilot . Though this method saw limited success , its overall inefficiency and susceptibility to jamming prompted a new approach . The droid starfighters of the Clone Wars provided Imperial scientists with the basis for a new automated fighter . Every TIE / D had an integrated Cybot Galactica Ace - 6 droid brain which could be updated with new tactics — despite this , it was still often easily outwitted by sentient starfighter pilots . The finalized version of the TIE / D debuted against the New Republic on Dac , six years after the Battle of Endor . The Imperial World Devastator s invaded the world in the Battle of Calamari , and their internal factories made swarms of TIE / Ds from the elements of the very world they attacked . During the battle , TIE / D fighters were pitted against New Republic V - wings and E - wings . The massive numbers of TIE / Ds provided them with an inherent advantage , but New Republic pilots were able to outwit these drones just as Galactic Republic clone and Jedi pilots were able to outwit Separatist droid starfighters in the past . The New Republic ' s Rogue Squadron battled and defeated squadrons of the automated starfighters , which were attacking Mon Calamari cities . When the tide turned against the Empire on Mon Calamari , most of their TIE / D manufacturing capability was destroyed along with the World Devastators . As their piloting ability never matched that of living pilots , the droids were eventually abandoned . The dream of a perfect automated military force would remain out of the reach of the Galactic Empire . Behind the scenes . After premiering in the " Dark Empire " comic book , the TIE / D was the first Expanded Universe LEGO set , released in the TIE Collection set ( 10131 ) .