Starfleet Fighter Planes?

[FlapJoy]

A fighter carrier in this environment is just plain silly, though the idea of parasite craft docked to the outside of the ship Suliban-style would work extremely well.

Is it not still a carrier?

Besides, a shuttle bay works pretty well, why coudn't a ship house fighters and launch from that platform?
Not sure why it's silly

The ultimate fights begins. Silly would be the ideal of massed squadrons of piloted craft shooting out of Enterprise. Since they would be unable to rundown D7 cruiser because fighters in the Trek verse are not fast enough and don't have enough endrance to chase a starship down. Its not Battlestar where the only option is to jump to hide, Enterprise can outrun the shuttle with a phaser and a torpedo or two which we want to call fighters

The ideal of a parasite is like the float planes of old earth navies. A scout ship, not the decisive weapon which airpower holds because of speed advantages on earth over waterborne navy ships.

I wasn't speaking of the Enterprise exactly... here's my initial post on this subject...

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Seeing as the first warp crafts were essentially planes (besides the "Phoenix" and I assume similar craft to test warp drive), I can imagine that early designs were fighter type crafts with jet engines and small warp nacelles. In deep space, a first line of defense squadron might also have been needed in some missions to protect the cruiser before photons, sensors, and shields were fully developed. Maybe just a handful of fighters in the hanger bay just in case, or as scouts flying ahead of the main ship, or planet recon. Although Trek history has changed, details of the first Romulan war depicted the use of nuclear weapons. Archers Enterprise just had hull plating... so I think fighters could have come into play. I could see starfeet "space craft carriers" with small fighters and other weapons platforms engaged against a Romulan threat.
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Take into account that I used the world "imagine"... I'm engaging in playful speculation. But anyway, I was talking about early designs of warp capable craft, and how in the those days (before the fruition many of the trek advancements already discussed) it may have been interesting to think of the usefullness of a fighter. Before large cruisers, and as Earth based warp fighters and such...

But beyond that, the idea of a warp capable fighter could be cool... perhaps a few even stationed at a Federation planetary base, or even a small star base for protection when no other ship can respond in time to any given threat. Not just escorting larger ships or carriers or as part of an armada. If they do run into trouble, instead of ejection seats they could have emergency transporters, or "beam out" levers. Think of the action scenes of 3 or 4 Starfleet fighters taking on an Klingon bird of prey attacking a Federation colony... A Trek style dog fight !!!

 

[Jono]

^ Why have a pilot at all? These craft could be just as well served as unnamed expendable drones that are basically a torpedo launcher with magazine, phaser bank, shield generator strapped to an impulse engine. Plus since they are without a pilot when your run out of torpedoes or their phaser banks run dry they would make perfectly good missiles themselves.

We already have Trek style dog fights, they were performed by the Defiant vs Jem'Hadar attack ships/Klingon Bird of Preys/Breen warships in DS9.

While small craft are shown not to be as fast at warp as larger starships at impulse they don't appear to have any trouble pacing their larger cousins. Plus if they force the enemy to run that's still a win for them.

 

[Herkimer Jitty]

^ I think drones are your best bet if you want little fighter thingies in Star Trek. Designed mainly for delivering payloads... interceptors are a moot point, considering the very precise nature of ST beam weapons. Putting people in your small attack craft likely to be shot down in one hit - is no good.

I think we've seen something before that could certainly be labeled as an attack drone... remember those pitiful little things the Borg Cube shot down effortlessly at the Mars Defense Perimeter?

 

[FlapJoy]

Drones? Where's the fun in that?

 

[Jono]

^ In that lives aren't needlessly wasted.

 

[Anwar]

Something as simple as a fighter would be best left to an automated drone. I suppose if you wanted some element of danger you could have a small crewed Drone Control Frigate that housed them and gave more complex orders during battles. A sort of low-level defense when Starships aren't available.

 

[WendellM]

Starfleet fighter planes?

Surely an incomplete subject without their anthem:

99 Duesenflieger / 99 jet pilots
Jeder war ein grosser Krieger / Each one was a great warrior
Hielten sich fuer Captain Kirk / Thought they were Captain Kirk
Das gab ein grosses Feuerwerk / Then came a lot of fireworks



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7eHtTphDta8

 

[The Badger]

Of course, whilst it would make much more real-world sense to build drones, as I recall they were portrayed as piloted craft (crew 1-2, according to MA).

So that's what we have to consider!

 

[FlapJoy]

^ In that lives aren't needlessly wasted.

I just think it be more a "human" adventure if Starfleet fighters had pilots, I promise you no harm will come to any one of them. It would be fun to fly, and I'm sure they'd fair better in a fight than you might think. Besides, Starfleet DOES have single man fighters, it's canon... look it up. Start with Nova Squadron then work you're way up to the Dominion war. And, it's an interesting concept in the world of Trek. And fun to design I bet.

 

[Herkimer Jitty]

I doubt fighters were on someone's mind when the term "The Human Adventure" was coined.

Besides, its not like you can have much of an 'adventure' in a one man fighter.

 

[kv1at3485]

The Academy? Glorified shuttles used to give cadets practical astronautical experience.

But then, if Starfleet really wanted to go the "one man expendable fighter" route, I wouldn't be surprised. Sounds like something they would do in their lack of even finite wisdom.

 

[Jono]

^ In that lives aren't needlessly wasted.

I just think it be more a "human" adventure if Starfleet fighters had pilots, I promise you no harm will come to any one of them. It would be fun to fly, and I'm sure they'd fair better in a fight than you might think. Besides, Starfleet DOES have single man fighters, it's canon... look it up. Start with Nova Squadron then work you're way up to the Dominion war. And, it's an interesting concept in the world of Trek. And fun to design I bet.

I never said Starfleet didn't use attack fighters.

 

[FlapJoy]

I suppose if you wanted some element of danger you could have a small crewed Drone Control Frigate that housed them and gave more complex orders during battles.

Isn't Star Trek all about danger?
They Boldly go where no MAN has gone before, not where no drone has gone before. Why not computerize the whole fleet? Oh wait, they tried that... didn't go so well.

 

[FlapJoy]

I never said Starfleet didn't use attack fighters.

I know, it was a blanket statement... sorry.

 

[kv1at3485]

Ah, the problem with ST. "Human" is defined as physically human, and not the human spirit (whatever that means). Obviously a machine, which merely defines the computing substrate just like the brain, cannot have anything like the human spirit.

 

[Herkimer Jitty]

It's not like they have to be in the bloody things to fly them. Starfleet's comms are uber-FTL to the point where their comms greatly outstrip warp velocity. Since jamming isn't shown to be a common strategy when taking on enemy formations - I can safely say that remote piloted drones are still the best bet, since not only are your men not at risk, but your drones can fit more fuel and munitions.

Besides, only the Maquis ships were shown to be manned. They didn't have any closeups of the Starfleet version's cabins, did they?

 

[Silversmok3]

Ehh, id have to disagree with the 'drone' concept.

While a space borne UAV would have some uses, there would be situations where having a manned fighter would be much better. Consider, in TWOK Kirk's position of being disabled by Khan. Instead of stalling for time to hack into the Reliants computer via prefix code- a code Spock himself said Khan could have changed- Kirk launches a manned fighter wing into space and bam, no more wrath of anything lol.

IMO, it wouldnt be out of favor for trek to have 'fighters', given some cultures like the Romulans still have them, so just for defenses sake Starfleet would need em too.

 

[Herkimer Jitty]

So, how would a fighter with the pilot inside perform differently from a fighter with the pilot outside?

Does he have magic abilities that buff the fighter's stats, RPG style?

 

[FlapJoy]

So, how would a fighter with the pilot inside perform differently from a fighter with the pilot outside?

Does he have magic abilities that buff the fighter's stats, RPG style?

Never underestimate the human factor when one's life is on the line. When adrenaline takes over it's been proven that a skilled fighter pilot's skills are intensified when failure is not an option. And Starfleet is built with people who seek such adventure!!!

Plus, as a viewer of Trek... IT WOULD JUST BE MORE EXCITING !!!

 

[FlapJoy]

I doubt fighters were on someone's mind when the term "The Human Adventure" was coined.

Besides, its not like you can have much of an 'adventure' in a one man fighter.

Right, those jerks in the Air Force are bored out of their mind.