The A-Wing is a very small starfighter that was designed by General Jan Dodonna and engineer Walex Blissex. The idea behind the A-Wing was not to create a ship with a lot of firepower, but one that could use blinding speed to outperform its opponents. At the time of the Battle of Endor, the A-Wing was the fastest ship at sublight in the galaxy.

Although not used extensively by the New Republic, the A-Wing is used as its main interceptor. The ship is very difficult to fly becuase the high speeds create great stresses against the hull. Not only do the weapons, engine, and other systems require constant maintainence, but the ship is so small, the parts are all packed in very close together. This makes it difficult to reach some areas during repair, and also means that a critical hit could take out several major systems or even incinerate the entire ship. For this reason, often the pilot's only weapon against the enemy is the ship's blistering speed.The A-Wing is propelled by two Novaldex J-77 "Event Horizon" engines, and for maneuvering, uses the centered thruster-control jets and the J-77's ability to adjust the thrust-vector.

The A-Wing carries two wing-mounted blaster cannons (each with their own seperate generator) which can angle up and down sixty degrees; and some are modified to be able to shoot straight back. Since this armament is sometimes insufficient, some A-Wings have dual concussion-missile launchers with 3 missiles each. The concussion missiles have a greater range and are far more destructive than the laser cannons.

Since the A-Wing cannot take a lot of damage, it uses a unique sensor and communication-jamming device. This is only useful against fighters and other small ships, and can sometimes confuse the sensors of the enemy craft and allow the A-Wing to attack and get away before the enemy knows they are there.

The A-Wing was not intended to be a major fighter in the Rebel Alliance's fleet, as it was designed to be a escort for merchant ships. Rebel tacticians saw that the A-Wing was very successful, and found it was better in hit and fade attacks against Imperial vessels, where it could attack and get out before starfighters could be scrambled. Often, slower starfighters would draw the TIEs away from an Imperial transport or capital ship, and then the A-Wings would cut the undefended ship to ribbons.