Starfighter

"Starfighter" is a science fiction term used to describe small, fast, usually one-manned craft designed for armed combat (cf starship).

The appearance and use of fictional starfighters is often modeled on fighter aircraft, with little regard for the actual physics of spaceflight. Exceptions include the Gunstar from "The Last Starfighter", the Viper from the reimagined series of Battlestar Galactica, and the Starfury from "Babylon 5", which are capable of multidirectional orientation.

Starfighters are popular as the subjects of flight simulator-like space combat video games, such as the "Wing Commander" and "X-Wing" series. This connection was made explicitly as early as the 1984 film "The Last Starfighter" in which a video game on Earth is used as a recruiting device for an alien civilization whose starfighters require the same skills as the video game.

In the "Star Wars" Universe, a Starfighter is a blanket term for all small combat space craft, regardless of shields, hyperspace capability, weaponry (unless it carries none), armour, maneuverability and crew. "Snubfighter" (a term first used in ), though no concise definition has been given, often refers to a fighter carrying shielding, secondary weapons systems such as Proton Torpedoes or concussion missiles, and being hyperspace capable.

Examples

The following are some examples of starfighters from various media franchises:

Babylon 5

*The Earth Alliance (Starfury fighters)
**SA-23E Aurora
**SA-25A Badger
**SA-32A Thunderbolt
*The Minbari Federation
**Nial-class Fighter
*The Narn Regime
**Frazi-class Fighter
*The Centauri Republic
**Sentri-class Fighter

Battlestar Galactica

*The Twelve Colonies
**Colonial Viper (the Viper Mark II and Viper Mark VII of the 2003 miniseries were modified to maneuver more effectively in space)
**Colonial Blackbird (2004 series)
*The Cylons
**Cylon Raider
**Cylon Heavy Raider (2004 series)

Buck Rogers in the 25th Century

*The Earth Defense Directorate
**Star Fighter (2-person capacity in tandem configuration, four person capacity in side-by-side configuration)
**Star Fighter mk II (a tandem-seated Star Fighter with two extra stabilizer fins, used in the second season)
*The Draconian Empire
**Draconian Marauder

Macross

*U.N. Spacy
**VF-1 Valkyrie
**VF-3000 Crusader
**VF-4 Lightning III
**VF-5000
**VF-6
**VF-9 Cutlass
**VF-11 Thunderbolt
**VF-14 Vampire
**VF-17 Nightmare
**YF-19 and VF-19 Excalibur
**YF-21
**VF-22 Sturmvogel II
* The Barota
**Fz-109 Elgerzorene
*The Zentradi
**Fighter Pod
**Variable Device
**Variable Glaug
* Parallel World U.N. Spacy
**VF-XX Zentradian Valkyrie
**VF-2SS Valkyrie II
**VF-2JA Icarus
**Metal Siren

Robotech

*Robotech Armed Forces (Veritech fighters)
**VF-1 Valkyrie
**Condor
**VFA-6 Alpha
**VFB-9 Beta
*Army of the Southern Cross (Veritech fighters)
**VF-8 Logan
**VFH-10 Veritech AGAC Fighter/Helicopter
*Zentraedi
**Fighter Pod

=

*The United States Marine Corps
**SA-43 Hammerhead Endo/Exo-Atmospheric Attack Jet

"StarCraft"

*The Protoss
**Corsair-class support fighter
**Interceptor-class attack drones
**Phoenix-class superiority figher
**Scout-class superiority fighter
*The Terrans
**Banshee-class gunship
**Valkyrie-class frigate
**Wraith-class superiority fighter

Stargate

*Tau'ri/Earth (USAF fighters)
**X-301
**X-302, later put into production as the F-302
*The Goa'uld
**Death glider
*The Wraith
**Wraith dart
*The Ancients
**Gateships (referred to as Puddle Jumpers)

Star Trek

*Starfleet/Federation
**Federation Attack Fighter [http://www.memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Federation_attack_fighter]
**Raider Class Attack Ship
**Valkyrie-class Fighter (seen in )
*Bajorans
**Bajoran raider
**Bajoran interceptor
*Cardassians
**Hideki-class patrol ship
**Cardassian Pursuit Vessel (Mentioned by Gul Dukat)
*The Dominion
**Jem'Hadar fighter
*Romulan Empire
**Reman Scorpion (seen in "Star Trek Nemesis")
**Romulan Interceptor (Mentioned by Quark)
*Vulcans
**Vulcan fighter (seen on "")
*Talaxians
**Talaxian Fighter

Star Wars

*Galactic Republic
**ARC-170 starfighter
**V-19 Torrent starfighter
**V-wing starfighter
**Jedi starfighter
*Rebel Alliance/New Republic
**A-wing
**B-wing
**X-wing
**Y-wing
*Galactic Empire
**TIE Fighter
**TIE Interceptor
**TIE Advanced
**TIE Bomber
*Confederacy of Independent Systems
**Droid starfighter
**Geonosian starfighter
**Droid Tri-Fighter

Other Properties

*Andromeda
**RF-42 Centaur Tactical Fighter (Slipfighter)
*Darius series
**The Silver Hawk
*Exosquad
**Exofighter Space E-frame #CR-001
**Neofighter Space E-frame #EL-909
*Farscape
**The Peacekeeper Prowler
*Gradius
**The "Vic Viper"
*Halo universe
** UNSC C-709 Longsword Interceptor
** Covenant Seraph
*Honorverse
**Cimiterre (Havenite Design LAC)
**Ferret (Manticoran Design LAC)
**Katana (Grayson Design Space Superiority LAC)
**Shrike (Manticoran Design LAC)
*Perry Rhodan
**Moskito-Jet
**Lightning-Jet
**Space-Jet (various designs, unlike the above disk shaped, not like a plane)
*Star Fox Series
** Arwing
** Wolfen
*Super Robot Wars's Banpresto Originals
**YAM-008-2 Altairlion
**YSF-34 Vegalion
*R-Type
** R-9 Arrowhead
*The Last Starfighter
**Star League Gunstar (first major movie to use CGI for space battle sequences)
**Xurian Deckfighter
*Xevious
**The Solvalou fighter

ee also

*F-104 Starfighter
*Starship
*Starship class
*Spacecraft
*Space battleship
*Mother ship