Advanced Recon Commando

The Advanced Recon Commandos, also known as Advanced Recon Clone troopers or more simply as ARC Troopers, are the elite clone troopers within the Grand Army of the Republic. Although they have less numbers than the regular clone trooper, they are renowned as one of the best soldiers in the galaxy.

Creation
During the early development of the cloning program, Jango Fett and his Mandalorian military advisors had decided to also create clones that would be able to handle covert missions to delicate for the average clone trooper. Despite carrying this plan out, the first batch of ARCs were "failed," as the Kaminoans had recorded. Originally, they were to be terminated, but to their fortune, Kal Skirata had saved them, believing that all clone deserved a better life than the one they were already given.

After this, the Kaminoans improved their ARC troopers, and eventually made them "perfect" once the second batch was created.

Training
Unlike regular clone troopers and Republic Commandos, the ARC troopers went under direct tutelage of Jango Fett. Under Fett's strict discipline 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. After completing their training, the ARC troopers were locked in stasis on Kamino until they were required.

In the Clone Wars
Two months after the Battle of Geonosis, a Confederacy assault on Kamino prompted their early activation. As droid detachments closed in on Tipoca City, Prime Minister Lama Su activated the Advanced Recon Commandos and authorized their deployment to hot-spots across Kamino in a last-ditch effort to save the planet's precious cloning facilities. The ARCs worked with a force of Jedi to repel the droid forces.

Following the First Battle of Kamino, the ARCs were integrated into the Grand Army of the Republic. As the ARCs took their place in the larger world, they developed distinct personalities due to their unaltered nature; some gave themselves names, others formed relationships outside the GAR. Once integrated, Advanced Recon Commandos worked as solo operatives or in small squads led by ARC captains, either performing self-contained missions or supplementing larger Grand Army of the Republic operations. It is possible that they trained ordinary clone troopers in ARC techniques and commanded them in squads; due to the limited number of ARCs, it is unlikely that the teams would be comprised only of them. One notable exception was the aftermath of the Battle of Hypori, where a twenty-man ARC trooper team under the leadership of Captain Fordo engaged General Grievous in combat.

As the Clone Wars progressed, some battles were won by the Republic largely thanks to the ARC troopers, most notably the Battle of Muunilinst, where the Muunilinst 10 disabled Separatist defenses that were causing damage to Republic forces. Soon, as their reputation spread among the GAR and throughout the galaxy, the Advanced Recon Commandos proved time and time again as to why they were they regarded as the best of the best in the Grand Army. As perfect soldiers, the ARCs and Jango were almost exactly alike; in fact, the leader of the Muunilinst 10, Fordo, had adapted the same blaster-spinning routine as Jango Fett.

The Galactic Empire
As the Republic had changed in to the Galactic Empire, the ARC troopers were given options, unlike the clone troopers and Republic Commandos, who became stormtroopers. The ARC troopers were allowed to retire, or to train their successors to pass on combat knowledge.

Those that continued in the Empire where merged into the Imperial Commando units and given Imperial Commando Armour, this same fate befell other Republic special force troopers such as Covert Ops Troopers or Shadowtroopers.

Some ARC troopers, however, revolted against the Empire and took part in the Anti-Trooper program on Kamino, where the Kaminoans had too rebelled against the Empire. These ARC troopers are thought to be of a newer batch.

There is a specialized Empire soldier that is similar to the ARC trooper in many ways. This unit is known as the Shocktrooper, which sports similarly looking armor as well as some of the same combat knowledge.

Rank System

 * Yellow - Commander
 * Red - Captain
 * Blue - Lieutenant
 * Green - Sergeant

Ranks in-depth

 * ARC commander: Although some ARC trooper captains were promoted to the rank of commander and wore yellow ARC trooper armor, most of the officers that were labeled an "ARC Commander" were not originally Alpha-class ARC troopers. These ARC commanders were regular clone officer commanders that were specially trained by Alpha-17 to instill more independence, aggressiveness, and to think outside the box.
 * ARC captain: These ARCs were higher in rank than ARC lieutenants. They wore red-striped ARC trooper armor and also led ARC lieutenants into battles.
 * ARC lieutenant: These were the first and most common ARCs during the Clone Wars. They fought in various battles including the Battle of Muunilinst and wore blue-striped armor.
 * ARC sergeant: ARC Sergeants wore green-striped armor. The only known ARC sergeant was the Null ARC Trooper A'den.

Phase I ARC's

 * Standard Phase I Clone Trooper armour.
 * A Karma: As worn by Clone Jet Troopers
 * A rank Pauldron (See above for ranks)
 * A Rangefinder.
 * A Westar M5: This was a type of gun used by ARC Troopers, it was similar to the DC-17m Interchangeable Weapons System used by the Clone Commandos.
 * DC-17 Commando Pistols: The early type of this weapon was used almost exclusively by early ARC Troopers.
 * DC-15 Blaster Rifles: more commonly used by Clone Troopers but they also saw use by a few ARC Troopers, some ARCs used a variant with a small grenade launcher attached to the stock.
 * Z-6 Chaingun, and Reciprocating Quad Blaster: These weapons where normally used by the ARC Heavy Gunners.
 * The Armour, Karma, and Pauldron of the Phase 1 ARC Troopers was generally coloured according to rank.

Phase II ARC's

 * Standard Phase II Clone Trooper armour with a grey more armoured breastplate and a specialised mixed helmet, that mixed Phase II Rebreathers with a Phase I crest and visor.
 * A Karma: As worn by Clone Jet Troopers
 * A Rank Pauldron (See above for ranks) this time it cover both shoulders.
 * A Rangefinder.
 * DC-17 Commando Pistols: The later type of this weapon was used by practically all Republic Clone Commanders, some Captains, Officers, Commandos, and Jet Troopers.
 * DC-15 Blaster Rifles, more commonly used by Clone Troopers but they also saw use by a few ARC Troopers.
 * The Armour, Karma, and Pauldron of the Phase 1 ARC Troopers was generally coloured according to rank.

Phase II ARC's

 * Phase III ARC Trooper Helmet: After the success of the prototype of this helmet used by Clone Commander Wolfe early on in the Clone Wars, this type of helmet was deployed to the Republics ARC units, such as Commander Fordo or Commander Neyo. This Type of helmet was eventually evolved into the Stormtrooper helmet of the Galactic Empire.
 * Pauldron and Karma: The new Phase III Pauldron only covered the right solder but still displayed the ARCs rank. By this stage most ARC troopers where no longer wearing their karma's.
 * Other than the new helmet design the ARC armour remained the same (minus the karma) until The merger of the ARC Troopers into the Imperial Commando units.

Notable ARC troopers

 * Alpha-Ø2 "Spar"
 * Alpha-17 "Alpha"
 * Alpha-26 "Maze"
 * Alpha-30 "Sull"
 * Alpha-58 "Trantos"
 * Alpha-66 "Muzzle"
 * Alpha-77 "Fordo"
 * Alpha-98 "Nate"
 * CT-21-0408 "Echo"
 * CT-27-5555 "Fives"
 * Null-5 "Prudii"
 * Null-6 "Kom'rk"
 * Null-7 "Mereel"
 * Null-10 "Jaing"
 * Null-11 "Ordo"
 * Null-12 "A'den"
 * "Aven"
 * "Blitz"
 * "Colt"
 * "Digger"
 * "Hash"
 * "Mapper"
 * "Mar'ek"
 * "Spade"
 * "Spots"
 * "Stec"
 * "Tavo"
 * "Tooth"
 * Valiant (clone trooper)
 * "Wrench"
 * Unidentified Advanced Recon Commando 1
 * Unidentified Advanced Recon Commando 3