Top Five Sci-Fi Space Fighters (That Aren't The Gunstar)

Spacedock delves into five of our favourite sci-fi space fighters.

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Spacedock does not hold ownership of the copyrighted materiel (Footage, Stills etc) taken from the various works of fiction covered in this series, and uses them within the boundaries of Fair Use for the purpose of Analysis, Discussion and Review.

[Spacedock]

Get "Designing the Perfect Space Fighter - A Spacedock Reference Book" here!

[mitwhitgaming]

Honestly, the Vulture droids just latching onto the outside of their ship is really unique. Means a ship doesn't nessisarly need a dedicated hangar bay to carry a fighter escort.

[ewansadler]

Half the reason the 302 (and all tau'ri ships for that matter) are so good, is because we saw them be developed, we watched as they discovered trinium, we watched as they stole and modified the death gliders, we were there when the Asgard gifted us the improved hyperdrives. Pretty much all of the developments were either mentioned or shown on screen, then used behind the scenes to make these wonderfully advanced, yet seemingly possible designs

[TheOneandOnlyDuck]

Swordfish II from Cowboy Bebop. Technically it is a racing ship modified to be a fighter.
- bubble cockpit that doubles as an escape pod
- giant plasma cannon
- VTOL and vector thrust propulsion
- pilot drives it like a motorcycle
A really unique and interesting craft that combines so many great elements.

[kineticdeath]

I am very attached to the starfury mostly because it was sneaking out of my bedroom at 11pm at night when i was not yet a teenager and watching babylon 5 which got me into sci-fi to begin with. I immediately started drawing ships and eventually started trying my hand at 3d modeling and ever since have loved a good beam weapon

[thatstarwarsnerd]

My favourite has to be the Hammerhead from Space: Above and Beyond, which had just about everything you could wish for: visible RCS thrusters, ejectable cockpit/escape pod, missile hardpoints, a cool launching sequence, and not just one, but two turrets

[daverage]

The 302 is one of those fighters that looks like a futuristic grounded design of a real fighter. Also, kudos for recognising 'R-Type'. What a great load of fighter they were! :)

[Guest]

I suppose it falls to me to bring up the (V/Y)F series of fighters from the Macross series - aka Variable Fighters (or their original came, Valkyries). Some things I particularly like about them:
- Usage of the mecha transformation to reorient and reposition thrusters for absurd maneuverability (i.e. being able to turn your primary thrusters tangential from your current direction), or swing your center of gravity around
- Heavily customizable in terms of additional weapons or roles, in addition to being able to punch far beyond their weight due to miniaturization of WMDs
- Active Stealth systems, which helps explain why fighters get used in a setting with near-relativistic beam weaponry with ftl sensors
- And lastly, the fact you can track development and iteration of the fighters as the series progresses, from the VF-0 to the VF-25.
Shame it doesn't get brought up much, but it's a superb fighter that deserves more mainstream respect.

[frederikhein]

You nailed it with the F-302! I was going to bring that up in my comment but now you already had it in the video. I just love the semi-realistic design with its reasonable advanced technology, and that’s pretty much why I love Stargate as a whole. SG-1 is my favorite sci-fi show and the F-302 my favorite fighter.

[Nikephorus]

Honorable mention to the SA-23E Mitchell-Hyundyne Starfury? Inconceivable! A few have mentioned it already in the comments, but the SA-43 Hammerhead from Space: Above and Beyond is a very cool design that often gets overlooked.

[ComradePhoenix]

I love the F-302, and especially how the Tauri took two Death Gliders, smashed them together for a prototype, discovered how bad of an idea that was, and then instead made a new prototype that was intended to be even better than a Death Glider, instead of simply a copy of it, and succeeded.

[joshikun]

I just always loved the Y-wings. Especially the clone wars version is the one I really fell in love with.

[michaellewis]

My favorite is the Hammer Head from Space Above and Beyond. Since it looks like a natural evolution of planes we have to day into a aro-space fighter.

[ott]

Star Fury is mine by far, BB5 in general, "Space: Above and Beyond" had the Hammerhead as well I loved, obscure I'm relatively sure. I liked the list in whole.

[rainmanslim]

The Tauri ship designs in SG1 were all masterfully done. Not one really felt out of place and the tauri ships really did feel like the kinda ships a military on earth would come up with

[Bird_Dog]

Only honourable mention for the venerable Starfury?
For me, it's still one of the greatest fighters in all of SciFi.
It has this combination of being both cool, unique and grounded.
Also very much liked the Defender heavy fighter from Freelancer. Shame the game had a generic linear progression with its fighters, so it wasn't viable past the first act of the game.
What else?
Oh, kinda like the design of the Forsaken from Chorus, even though the ship's design has its problems.

[LiamDennehy]

So happy you put the Lost in Space fighters in this list. The free-rotating cockpit bubble always impressed me as a great way to handle the g-forces of space combat, as well as providing excellent visibility for the pilot.

[HeadlessChickenTO]

I was going to say the Starfury, but absolutely yes on the F302. I also loved the Excalibur from Wing Commander. It had a very simple and effective design that to me feels like and F15 Strike Eagle.

[adamraddish]

Love the f302 fighters have and always will be my favourite

[TotallyDapper]

As something of a naval enthusiast who plays Warframe, the best comparison I can think of for the Railjack is that it’s a space torpedo boat. Large enough to require a crew, but not really large enough to be able to stay away from base for long periods of time. Quite small for a crewed ship, and quite fast, but only armored against starfighter-grade weaponry. They mount a single medium cannon (large enough to destroy heavily armored Crewships but not enough to threaten true capital ships), with three lighter turrets for defense and to take on lightly-armored opponents. It’s a PT boat with a 20mm Oerlikon, two M2 .50’s, and a 3” gun stuck on the front because the Marines weren’t using it. In Space. And I love it.