| The Sienar Fleet Systems Rho-class assault shuttle was designed by SFS to win the contract for a transport which could deliver a stormtrooper boarding party to enemy ships or space stations during a battle. Based closely on the successful Lambda-class shuttle, the Rho-class stands out from most Imperial shuttles in that it’s bridge section is spherical in shape instead of a more traditional wedge shape. The bridge section is divided into two portions, the command deck on top and the observation deck below. The observation deck features a viewport which dominates a quarter of the bridges size, while two wedge shaped viewports allow the shuttle’s crew to see where they are going. All three viewports cause the shuttle to look like some savage beast. Rho-class shuttles are crewed by six people, pilot, co-pilot, navigator, computer officer, and two gunners.
While SFS did win a contract for 3,000 Rho-class shuttles, two years after production began the contract was canceled with only 800 models produced. The Telgorn Corporation had introduced their Delta-class Dx-9 Stromtrooper Transport, which was a more heavily armed transport with the ability to carry more than twice the number of stormtroopers for only half the price of the Rho-class. Rho-class shuttles quickly found themselves being located to backwater garrisons or being used as the personal transports of Imperial Moffs and officers who wanted to think they were important. | 
