Star Citizen ship: Banu Defender, light fighter

Banu Defender, official image — Official image © Cloud Imperium Games

The Defender is a crewed Banu fighter with a patchwork design mixing technology from several species. Its name says it all: the first line of defence, it is the Merchantman’s ideal companion, one hauls, the other fights.

📜 Its history

The Defender has existed since humanity’s first contact with the Banu in 2438 and has kept evolving. Since the Banu have traded with everyone for centuries, it incorporates other cultures’ technology: its latest version uses Tevarin Phalanx shields and Xi’an thrusters, better than the old human ones. The Banu rule is simple: if a technology works better, use it. The name “Defender” was chosen by the makers of the human version to appeal to that market.

📐 Specifications

Manufacturer	Banu
Role	light fighter (combat)
Size	small
Crew	2
Dimensions (L × W × H)	24.5 × 24.5 × 5 m
Mass	119,930 kg
Cargo	none
Combat speed (SCM)	222 m/s
Maximum speed	1,175 m/s
Rotation (pitch / yaw / roll)	61 / 61 / 170 °/s
Status	flight ready

🔫 Stock armament and equipment

Type	Size	Count	Equipment
weapon	S3	4	Singe Cannon (S3) (S3) VariPuck S3 Gimbal Mount
missiles	S3	3	MSD-322 Missile Rack

Components:

Shield: Sukoran (S2)
Power plant: 2 × IonBurst (S1)
Cooler: 2 × Polar (S1)
Quantum drive: Beacon (S1)
Jump module: Explorer (S1)
Radar: Ecouter (S1)
Life support: ComfortAir (S1)
Hydrogen tank: 2 × Internal Tank
Quantum fuel tank: Internal Tank

🏭 All Banu ships · 📚 All ships (contents)

Sources: the official Roberts Space Industries Ship Matrix (specs, stock loadout and description, checked 19 October 2026), the Star Citizen Wiki for the ship’s history. Text rewritten by Beacon Mag. Official values may differ slightly from the current game, which is rebalanced every patch. Official images © Cloud Imperium Games. Star Citizen® is a registered trademark of Cloud Imperium Rights LLC.