The Split S was an X-wing starfighter maneuver consisting of making an inverted role, then diving vertically before pulling out in the opposite direction to an enemy fighter in order to disengage from combat. The rebel pilot Barion Raner included the Split S in his X-wing Flight Manual, which was read by many pilots of the Alliance to Restore the Republic. He then used the maneuver to escape from three TIE/ln space superiority starfighters at the Battle of Scarif in 1 BBY.
The Split S was a X-wing starfighter maneuver used to disengage from combat when an enemy combatant was closing in from behind. The pilot needed to perform an inverted role and then dive vertically before pulling out in the direction opposite to the enemy's vector. The success of the manuver was dependant on the pilot's reaction speed as a missile attack would typically be made at a high closing speed and a laser attack would be made at a speed sufficient to pin the X-wing in the enemy's targeting reticle and minimize their chances of overshooting.
After joining Blue Squadron in about 4 BBY, rebel pilot Barion Raner, an X-wing specialist, included a page covering the Split S in the X-wing Flight Manual that he wrote for the Alliance to Restore the Republic. The documnent was used as a primer for new pilots in the rebelllion and was also purposefully leaked onto the Imperial HoloNet by Alliance Intelligence, where it was accessed by many aspiring pilots and young fliers hoping to join the rebellion.
Barion Raner performed a Spit S at the battle of Scarif.
Raner then used the maneuver himself during the Battle of Scarif in 1 BBY, where he employed it after destroying the deflector shield generator Imperial I-class Star Destroyer Persecutor in order to disengage from three TIE/ln space superiority starfighters on his tail. Raner carried out the inverted role over the command tower of the Star Destroyer then completed the vertical drop down past the Destroyer's engines and pulled out under the Persecutor in the opposite direction to the TIEs.
The page of the X-wing Flight Manual covering the Split S was included in the collection of rebel documents known as The Rebel Files. When reading The Rebel Files after they were delivered to the Resistance in 34 ABY, the pilot Poe Dameron annotated the page to say that it must be from an early draft of the manual, as he had learned from the X-wing Flight Manual as a child and remembered the section differently.
The Split S maneuver was created for the Anthology Series film Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, which was released on December 16, 2016. Prior to the release of the film, footage of Raner's X-wing performing the Split S was first revealed in the "Dream" TV spot for Rogue One released on November 20, 2016. The maneuver was then identified in the 2017 reference book Star Wars: The Rebel Files, which was written by Daniel Wallace.
- Star Wars: The Rebel Files