Why does the Empire use a unique configuration for their fighters- the big radiator panels- when afaik nobody else in the SW galaxy uses an analogous design for their fighters?
Because it looks cool and it makes it easier to distinguish them from the good guys.
Edit: and the real question is why don’t other vessels have them? Any space vehicle needs a way to radiate waste heat.
The makers of the TIEs (Sienar) are a different company than the makers of X-Wings (Incom), and employ a very different design philosophy. Might as well ask why Sikorsky and Grumman make such different looking aircraft.
Got a better way to absorb solar energy for your Twin Ion Engines?
I thought they were solar panels!
Physics is different wherever they are.
Still, like everything else the Empire makes, you can’t see sideways out of it. (First Rule of Empire Fighting: What’s aside of me is not important!)
AFAIK, they’re considered to be solar panels in SW canon.
I figured they were analogous to stormtrooper helmets - just a way to block the user’s peripheral vision for no good reason.
Seems like solar panels would not be very useful unless all of your flying occurs relatively close to a star. They’d be pretty useless even in the range of most outer planets, let alone interstellar space.
Another Gumball Rally fan outed.
Maybe someone invented really, really, really efficient solar panels.
Also, allow me to point out the existence of a solar sailer in SW canon, which is somehow also an interstellar craft. So, I dunno, man, you tell me how any of this makes sense.
Thank you. 
I was afraid it might have been too subtle, even for the SD. I needn’t have worried.
There’s no way in our universe that solar cells (of ANY size) can generate enough power to enable a ship to maneuver and fire weapons like a TIE fighter. And there’s no way ion engines can generate enough thrust to make a ship as fast as a TIE fighter.
I think G is different in the SW universe.
It’s Star Wars. Expecting any sort of logical or “hard sci-fi” answers to these sorts of questions is a fool’s errand. It’s a series of fantasy stories, that just happen to be set in outer space. (And I say all of this as a big SW fan!)
How meaningful is it to say that “nobody else in the SW galaxy” uses something like them? Sure, they’re only used by a single polity, but that single polity encompasses most of the galaxy.
So says a poster named “Kenobi”. :dubious:
Let’s just say that I know and love the property for what it is, and readily recognize what it is not.
Your Jedi Mind Tricks won’t work through the internet, Kenobi! 
That’s only true from a certain point of view.
:: hand wave ::
No, it isn’t. You’re going to reconsider your posting habits.
They are like horse blinkers, they stop the pilots from being unnecessarily startled or distracted.
Yeah, the rebels have to be instructed to “Stay on target…stay on target!”