“The standard mount point for the primary weapons of a TIE craft is just below the forward cockpit window on the main hull ball. Vessels designed for mainly non-combat roles may have a single central cannon with a barrel gauge of several centimetres, but the most common configuration on combat ships is a pair of laser cannons side by side. Placement of guns near the centre of a fighter provides a stable weapons platform and may provide slight advantages to pilot aim. [Central placement is reported as an advantage in performance comparisons between World War 2 fightercraft.]

The laser cannons are usually represented as short cylindrical protrusions from the hull plating. An alternative form of laser cannon takes the form of an orange conical device of a size similar to the cylinder-type cannons. These seemingly simple structures evidently are not the only mechanism involved, because the blast bolts can be shot out in many different directions. Although this isn’t obvious to the eye, something inside the weapons must be capable of swivelling. The pilot may direct his fire anywhere within the field of view without turning his craft, and the tracking does not detectably delay the bolts’ firing. This is a significant advantage over the more static armaments of most rebel starfighters, such as the X-Wing and Y-Wing,

Some models of TIE interceptors and other heavier combat craft mount laser cannons and ion cannons on forward tips or the hubs of the wings. The reasons for this are not entirely clear: there may be tactical and practical advantages in having the cannons widely spaced; or it may simply be a matter of main cockpit ball being too tightly packed with other systems. Direct attachment to the radiators might allow a marginal improvement in the cooling of overheated weapons, or it might allow easier access for maintenance crews. Spreading the fire may improve strafing, and may boost the chances of scoring a few hits even when a few of the linked shots miss. Another possible advantage is redundancy of guns on a partially-damaged fighter: a single grazing hit cannot ruin all of the interceptor’s weapons at once. In any case, most designs with wing-mounted guns already have the standard chin guns; wing guns usually seem to be supplemental.

The bolts fired from TIE laser cannons are consistently green in colour, at least on the military models. Green blaster bolts appear to be exclusive to spacecraft and artillery in Imperial service. The physical significance of this is unclear.” – Dr Curtis Saxton