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Well, one can create a logical reason if one must:

"The efficiency of the 'thrust' vector of an ion-based engine is decreased by the distance from the Ion exciter element in the core power plant. Thus when the foils are opened, a slight fractional decrease in Ion scatter results in slightly less overall X axis thrust."

or, the real answer:

"Mr. Lucas said these toys would sell better if they had moving parts, so let's come up with something"