The Federation Attack Fighter

Some followup points related to yesterday’s discussion of the lack of small fighter craft or “aircraft carrier” analogues (along the lines of a Star Destroyer or a Battlestar) in the Star Trek franchise. For one thing, yes, there’s an obvious real world practical answer — before the advent of cheap CGI it wouldn’t have been practical to stage large fighter battles. And, again, there’s a thematic answer — the Star Trek shows are mostly conceived of as futuristic versions of 18th century seafaring expeditions. But the issue is what’s the rational inside the fiction.

It seems to me that the thread was moving toward a solid consensus based on fictional technologies. On the one hand, small craft can’t generate enough power to seriously damage the shields of a large vessel. And on the other hand, the advanced targeting technology available in Trek-dom means that agility doesn’t have a ton of combat value. Under the circumstances, a peacetime Federation has no particular need for large quantities of fighters. But as several readers have pointed out, there is such a thing as the Federation Attack Fighter that gets used in large numbers during the Dominion War once the Federation put itself on a war footing.