Starfighter

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This article is about the class of fictional vehicles. For other uses see Starfighter (disambiguation)

"Starfighter" is a science fiction term used to describe relatively small, maneuverable manned spacecraft designed for military combat (cf starship). Strictly speaking, the term "starfighter" only applies to those that can independently perform intersystem travel; "spacefighter" would be a more appropriate title for those that cannot. 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", though no concise definition has been given, refers to a fighter carrying Shielding, secondary weapons systems such as Proton Torpedoes or Concussion Missiles, and being hyperspace capable.

The appearance and use of fictional starfighters is often modeled on fighter aircraft, with little regard for the actual physics of space travel. The starfuries in the television series Babylon 5 and vipers in the re-make of Battlestar Galactica are notable exceptions in at least the attempt to make a more realistic fighter for space combat.

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 is made explicitly in 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.

Contents 1 Examples of Starfighters 1.1 Babylon 5 1.2 Battlestar Galactica 1.3 Buck Rogers in the 25th Century 1.4 Macross 1.5 Robotech 1.6 StarCraft 1.7 Stargate 1.8 Star Wars 1.9 Other Properties 2 See also

Examples of Starfighters

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

Babylon 5

• The Earth Alliance (Starfury fighters)
  • SA-23E Aurora
  • SB-30A Badger
  • SA-32A Thunderbolt
• The Minbari Federation
  • Minbari Fighter

Battlestar Galactica

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

Buck Rogers in the 25th Century

• The Earth Directorate
  • Star Fighter (unusual because seats are side by side, not tandem)
  • 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 Omega One
  • VF-22 Sturmvogel II
• The Barota
  • Fz-109 Elgerzorene
• The Zentradi
  • Fighter Pod
  • Variable Device
  • Variable Glaug

Robotech

• The Robotech Armed Forces (Veritech fighters)
  • The VF-1 Valkyrie
  • The VFB-5 Condor
  • The VFA-6 Alpha
  • The VF-7 Sylphid
  • The VFB-9 Beta
• The Army of the Southern Cross (Veritech fighters)
  • The VF-8 Logan
  • The VFH-10 Auroran (AGACS) Veritech Fighter/Helicopter
• The Zentraedi
  • Gnerl Fighter Pod

StarCraft

• The Protoss
  • Corsair
  • Scout
• The Terran Confederacy
  • Wraith

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

Star Wars

• Galactic Republic
  • ARC-170 starfighter
  • V-19 Torrent starfighter
  • Jedi starfighter
  • Advanced Jedi starfighter
• Rebel Alliance/New Republic
  • A-wing
  • B-wing
  • E-wing
  • X-wing
  • Y-wing
  • Z-95 Headhunter
• Galactic Empire
  • Assault Gunboat
  • Missile Gunboat
  • TIE Fighter
  • TIE Interceptor
  • TIE Advanced
  • TIE Defender
• Confederacy of Independent Systems
  • Droid starfighter
  • Geonosian starfighter
  • Tri-Droid Fighter
• Yuuzhan Vong
  • Coralskipper
  • Yorik-Vec
  • Grutchin
• Ssi-Ruuk
  • Swarm-class Battle Droid

Other Properties

• Farscape
  • The Peacekeeper Prowler
• The Last Starfighter
  • Star League Gunstar (first major movie to use CGI for space battle sequences)
• Star Trek
  • The Peregrine-class shuttle is sometimes considered a fighter class
• Xevious
  • The Solvalou fighter

See also

• Starship
• Starship class
• Spacecraft