Why are the tower globes scanners and not shield generators?
Because if they were shield generators they would have been protected by their own shield emissions. A-Wings could not damage them. The fact that they were damaged by A-Wing fire is a demonstration that the shields had failed moments earlier, and the Executor had become vulnerable. The Return of the Jedi novel clearly indicates that the rebel cruisers employed tactics aimed at overtaxing the Imperials’ power systems, in the hope of causing temporary shield failure. Ackbar’s explicit intention was that these failures would make the enemy vulnerable to rebel starfighters. Furthermore: • Shields are not associated with globes or any other external structure on any other shielded STAR WARS ship. Shield generators in STAR WARS are internal. • At least some types of sensors are known to be external features. Eg. dishes on Millennium Falcon, Corellian Corvette. Nobody dares suggest that these are shield generators. • The globes are fashioned and positioned identically to the scanners of capit
