[TLAM Strike]

Originally Posted by CCIP

Nahh, the fighter jocks will eventually re-qualify to space jocks. The athmosphere is too dense to support their desire for faster and cooler-looking machines for much longer :p

From "The Tough Guide to the Known Galaxy":
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homep...ceguideS-Z.htm

SPACE FIGHTERS. Small, fast, highly maneuverable COMBAT SPACECRAFT. They have very limited range (never FTL), and no crew habitability to speak of; they can only operate for at most a few hours at a time. The crew is limited to one person, or occasionally two. At least among EARTH HUMANS and ALIENS WTH FOREHEAD RIDGES, these are usually males in their early twenties, known for their swagger, coolness, and fast moves on any attractive female of an INTERBREEDABLE species. (Who REALLY ALIENS use to crew their Space Fighters is not known.)
Because of their short range, Space Fighters usually must be carried into action by TRANSPORTER ships, though in some cases they will be carried piggyback on other, larger Combat Spacecraft. Their tactical value is unclear, since the are really just small spacecraft themselves. Since they don't operate in an essentially different medium, the way aircraft operate in a different medium from surface ships, there is no fundamental reason why they should be all that much faster. In naval terms they are more analogous to motor gunboats than to airplanes.
Mostly Space Fighters fight each other, which is logical enough in itself but doesn't explain why they are used in the first place. Only two other missions can be identified for them:
1) To destroy gargantuan BATTLE STATIONS, which are vulnerable only to attack by Space Fighters.
2) To give prominent roles to young males in their early twenties, so they can display their swagger, coolness, and fast moves on any attractive female of an Interbreedable species.

Of course I wonder how the USAF will react when someone tells them "There ain't no steath in space"

http://projectrho.com/rocket/rocket3w.html#nostealth

Originally Posted by Zachstar

And because they can be made smaller. They can start to be transported to the combat zone by transport aircraft. Such as C-130s being converted as carrier aircraft for a small squad of drones.

Parasite Fighters anyone?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parasite_fighter