Advanced Recon Commando (SWAU)

**Advanced Recon Commandos**, also known as **ARC troopers**, were an elite variant of clone troopers within the Grand Army of the Republic and later the Imperial Military. The original ARC troopers were the 12 Null-class clones, who were deemed "uncommandable" and followed by the 100 Alpha-class clones, who would become some of the greatest soldiers in the entire army; further development of the ARC trooper program was continued with the Beta-class ARC troopers and later the Omega-class ARCs. Additionally, the status of ARC trooper could also be bestowed on clones who served with distinction on the battlefield, such as CT-21-1408, CT-27-5555 and CT-13-5597. They received special training and often served as leaders or received challenging assignments not suitable for less specialized clones. They were given their own unique armor set, which differed greatly from the standard issue kit given to the rank-and-file clone soldiers, being equipped with more components.

## History

### Beginnings

During the early stages of the clone army's planning and development, Jango Fett and his Mandalorian military advisors advocated the creation of clones capable of handling covert missions too delicate for the standard units. To achieve the desired results, the Kaminoans did not apply the standard behavior correction and enhanced the prime clone's genetic sample to increase physical prowess. The first attempt at genetic alterations failed, resulting in the Null-class ARC troopers. The Nulls were the first clones of Fett made by the Kaminoans, and served as prototypes for the Grand Army. Only 7 of the 12 Null prototypes survived the embryonic stage of development, with only one meeting the Kaminoans' standards.

The project was deemed a failure by the cloners; Null-7 would become the clone general Xev while the 6 "uncommandable" clones were adopted and trained by Kal Skirata, who saved them from termination. The Nulls' botched genes made them unstable and more violent and unruly than the Kaminoans had hoped for. Having learned their lesson, the Kaminoans succeeded in their second attempt at creating stable clone soldiers, generating 100 ARC troopers, designated the Alpha-class. Afterwards, the clone template would be the basis for the rest of the army's soldiers and development on the next generation of ARC troopers, designated the Beta-class ARC program.

After completing standard flash training and accelerated growth, these clones were placed under the tutelage of Jango Fett while the Beta ARCs would be trained in Timira City by three *Cuy'val Dar* of Clan Viszla. Under these Mandalorian trainers, a strict regime of discipline was enforced and they learned to use their fierce independence, innate creativity and physical superiority in combination with their training in advanced weapons and vehicles to become virtual one-man armies. In the case of the Beta ARCs, they were taught the history of Mandalore and their culture and the Viszla warriors taught them all Mando'a, the language of Mandalore, instituting it as a *lingua franca* to be used during training, with Basic only being allowed during their down time. After completing their training, the Alpha-class ARC troopers were locked in stasis on Kamino until they were required while the Beta ARCs were placed in command positions of different units of the Grand Army of the Republic, as their trainers felt they would be more effective by leading regular units on the front lines rather than be used sparingly only for special missions.