Imperial weapons technicians, also known as Imperial gunners, Imperial engineers, or Death Star gunners to those onboard the Death Star and DS- Death Star II Mobile Battle Station, were members of the Imperial Military who operated the various weapons of the Galactic Empire's capital ships, military bases, and battle stations. They were members of the Imperial Navy's Starfighter Corps (acting as a special sub-unit of the corps). The most advanced were involved in the firing and maintenance of the reactors within the first and second battle stations.

Imperial gunners were recruits from the Imperial Navy's piloting program that were either still in training or washed out. Even though they did not make it into becoming pilots, Imperial gunners nonetheless possessed keen eyes, superior reflexes, and a rapport with specialized equipment, and as such they were tasked to use their skills with weapons to handle the powerful turbolasers and ion cannons of Imperial vessels, such as Star Destroyers and World Devastators. They were trained in repairing and handling engine equipment, light laser cannons, light, medium and heavy turbolasers, as well as ion cannons, missile launchers and tractor beams. As such, their duties included tracking targets during combat, firing at targets, reloading ammunition, and preventing overloads in the weapons systems.

On both Death Stars, the gunners, often called Death Star gunners, had the additional job of maintaining a careful balance of energy in the battle station's superlaser, avoiding the risk of either an overload of the titanic energies or otherwise it phase imbalances that would result huge internal explosions. Such a job was relegated to those gunners who were of both the highest-rank and the best-trained of their peers. The gunners were trained as a group, and also spent months calibrating weapons and running through countless scenario engagements with battle plans devised by Tarkin's staff as well as simulated fleet battles against the Rebels in the thousands. As a consequence of the drills, alongside their computer-linked helmets, the gunners could aim, power-up, and fire the superlaser with synchronized precision. Aside from their role of manning various onboard weaponry for various vessels, they have also been trained with activating non-offensive systems such as cloaking devices and when deployed on the ground- they would be attached to provide support for other regiments.

Imperial gunners used a ranking system similar to that of starfighter pilots, with commissioned ranks such as Captain, Major, and Colonel. Some would be deployed in ground operations as battlefield engineers, operating on damaged vehicles and wounded soldiers, and laying down defenses.