Star's equipment held without protection (5)
I believe the answer is:
rigel
'star's' is the definition.
(Rigel is an example)
'equipment held without protection' is the wordplay.
'equipment' becomes 'rig' (rig is a kind of equipment).
'without protection' indicates the central letters (no outside letters).
The centre of 'held' is 'el'.
'rig'+'el'='RIGEL'
(Other definitions for rigel that I've seen before include "Orion's brightest star" , "shiner" , "Brightest star in Orion" .)