Project X271 was undertaken by the Galactic Empire to produce a weapon capable of destroying every living thing on a planet. In 7 BBY, Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Vader visited the research facilities in the Outer Rim Territories during an exploration tour of similar weapon development projects. When he arrived at the planet Falleen aboard the Imperial I-class Star Destroyer Devastator, Captain Bolvan suggested using ordnance from Project X271 to incinerate a quickly spreading bacterial plague, which broke loose from an Imperial bacteriological research outpost. Vader disagreed and ordered Lieutenant Hija to conduct turbolaser bombardment instead, thereby destroying the laboratories and everything within forty kilometers. The bacterium, along with 200,000 native Falleen were annihilated.