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From what I understand the New Republic is considered the successor of the Empire. So I would suppose most of the remaining troops would pledging their allegiance to the Republic, and it would have control of most (former) Imperial installations. From my point of view it would be illogical to completely disband this - sure, punish the war criminals, but the rest would be needed. I am thinking along the lines how post WWII German military was reformed - still wearing "old" equipment with new insignia for a long time.

So my question: do we know whether the New Republic uses stormtroopers, TIE fighters, Star Destroyers, AT-ATs, etc?

I understand that the First Order sees itself as successor of the Empire. Still, it seems it was at best at similar strength as the New Republic. Also, the New Republic was in control of most of the area, so they were in need to defend their borders - especially against the First Order. Why wouldn't they use the former Imperial installations and (the now loyal) personnel?

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    Are you sure you mean the New Republic, rather than The First Order?
    – Gallifreyan
    Feb 24, 2017 at 15:23
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    The New Republic is the successor of the Empire in the sense that it controlled (roughly) the same territory. But ideologically the First Order is the successor of the Empire and would use Imperial stormtroopers and technology.
    – Null ♦
    Feb 24, 2017 at 15:26
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    Yes - from what I understand it is the new republic on Coruscant - and probably other core worlds. Also it seems the first order is tiny compared to the imperial army - they even have to steal kids just to fill their ranks.
    – bdecaf
    Feb 24, 2017 at 15:27
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    @Null - I agree that the new republic wouldn't use a death star. But how would it be immoral to use a tie instead of a x-wing? They could even rename the stormtroopers to "peace troopers" and do some paint job ;)
    – bdecaf
    Feb 24, 2017 at 16:07

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No, because the New Republic disarmed itself following the defeat of the Galactic Empire.

The New Republic was formed out of the Rebel Alliance after the Battle of Endor. The New Republic continued to fight the remnants of the Galactic Empire until the Empire was defeated and forced to sign the Galactic Concordance. At this point the New Republic became the successor of the Empire in the sense that the New Republic controlled much of the same territory that the Empire had. However, the New Republic was ideologically opposed to the Galactic Empire so the ideological successor of the Empire was the First Order.

As seen in Episode VII, the First Order used upgraded Imperial Star Destroyers, TIE fighters, etc. The New Republic continued to use the military equipment that the Rebel Alliance had used against the Empire (Mon Calamari cruisers, X-Wings, etc.), but the New Republic's military forces were self-limited after the defeat of the Galatic Empire by the Military Disarmament Act. Since the New Republic had already acquired sufficient forces to defeat the Empire and then scaled back its military strength, there was no need to absorb Imperial personnel and equipment into its armed forces.

The New Republic might have picked up a few former stormtroopers for its army, but the stormtroopers were volunteers and thus were unlikely to switch allegiance to the New Republic. The stormtroopers generally believed in the ideals of the Empire and were therefore much more likely to join the Empire's ideological successor: the First Order.

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    One thing that always bothered me about this: why oh why did they disarm? Maybe it's the American in me, but the New Republic isn't the only power in the galaxy; this theme comes up over and over again in the Legends series. Star systems get restless, Hutt lords buy Star Destroyers from Kuat, entire new warlike species are "discovered" (Chiss, Ssi-ruu)... in Legends everyone stays armed, the Imperial remnants switch allegiances at a whim... I'm just bothered, it seems like they think everyone will come to the Senate and chat.
    – Zoey Boles
    Feb 24, 2017 at 19:08
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    @ZoeyBoles Yes, it was a very dumb move to disarm (though it made sense in order to create a plot/threat for Episode VII). But history repeats itself.
    – Null ♦
    Feb 24, 2017 at 19:16
  • If I recall correctly in TFA we only see Resistance units. The new republic had a peace treaty (but was backstabbed).
    – bdecaf
    Feb 24, 2017 at 20:27
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    @bdecaf Yes, in TFA the units we see belong to the Resistance. That's because the New Republic had disarmed (it only had a small military, and it was not willing to confront the First Order). Yes, the New Republic had a peace treaty but those don't last forever -- eventually someone's going to decide they want more favorable terms and that they have the military strength to make it happen.
    – Null ♦
    Feb 24, 2017 at 20:38
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    @Null grilled another Star Wars fan about this, and it seems like the idea was to decentralize the military, at first. Corouscant would have a fleet, Correlia would have a fleet Kuat would have a fleet, etc, etc. But then the New Republic decided to disarm further? I mean, I guess you can't forcefully disarm a planet if you don't have your own military, but I get the drift that there was a "wave of peace and unity" in the senate, and even the local planets disarmed...
    – Zoey Boles
    Feb 24, 2017 at 20:46

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