The Essential Guide to Force Exile/S-5X sniper rifle

The S-5X sniper rifle was the answer to a number of complaints from the Yanibar Guard about the unreliability of the imported Verpine sniper rifles that had been in use previously. The Verpine weapons fired a magnetically accelerated metal projectile at high velocity, but were prone to jamming and were easily damaged. After hearing numerous reports of sniper rifle failure, Sarth Kraen, the head of Kraechar Arms, decided to develop an advanced projectile weapon indigenously, with the aid of his Xi Charran design bureau.

Work began on the S-5 in 13 BBY, but the finished product was not available until 10 BBY. The weapon was based off of Verpine design principles, but featured improved silencing, extended range, more firing modes, and, most importantly, a durable nonmetal composite frame. Like other Kraechar Arms weapons, it was designed to interface with standard Battlesuit52-A and B armor sets.

The S-5X contained an eight round magazine clip that loaded on the left side of the weapon. Each round was a 10 x 90 mm tungsten-durasteel alloy slug of metal. Firing in subsonic mode, it was lethal to most unarmored humanoid targets at 1500 meters. In hypersonic mode, where the round was accelerated to nearly 2,000 meters per second, the S-5X could penetrate stormtrooper armor easily at 1500 meters. The third firing mode allowed for the S-5X to fire low-velocity stun rounds that were made of a light metal that exploded into a stunning blast upon contact, to allow the weapon some measure of nonlethal use, though that restricted its range to a mere 300 meters. It was only capable of semiautomatic fire by factory standard, though a few mechanically savvy Yanibar Guard infantry squads modified their rifles to accept oversized 16-round clips and fire in automatic. In this mode, the S-5X was capable of destroying small speeders. Another advantage of using projectile ammunition was that it allowed the weapon to be nearly silent when firing in subsonic mode, and additionally, the rounds bypassed energy shields.

The scope on the S-5X could be flipped from visual to low-light to infrared modes and had three scanning distances: 2x, 10x, and 100x. However, it was also heavy and difficult to fire. As such, only trained squad snipers, who completed a three month sniper school course, were issued the S-5X. It also saw use among Yanibar Guard Intelligence covert agent teams and the Elite Guardians, but they too had to experience sniper school before being allowed to use it. Regular infantrymen were trained to fire the weapon briefly, but proficient use of the weapon was much harder to achieve. As such, it was not exported, nor even publicly admitted to exist.

The weapon had a smaller sidearm counterpart as well, the S-5XS, a sidearm version of the rifle capable of firing only in subsonic mode. It was popular among YGI for covert operations, as well as certain special operations units. The two weapons both fired tungsten-durasteel rounds, but the S-5X rounds were significantly larger and could not be interchanged.