Earth Directorate Starfighter

## Description

This fighter is a medium starfighter used by the Earth Defense Directorate to protect the Earth and all starships in service in with the Earth government. The fighter is very maneuverable and heavily armed. The fighter can launch and land under its own power but often uses electromagnetic launch systems to reach a greater initial velocity than would be otherwise possible.

The fighter is built around two needle like structures and could be described as being built in a twin boom construction. The body of the fighter could be described as a futuristic version of the old World War Two Lighting twin engine fighter. Both booms have two sharp noses and the fighter’s twin engines are mounted with one on the rear of each of these boom structures. Between the two structures is the fighter’s cockpit which contains a position for the pilot forward and behind the pilot is a second compartment for a passenger. The passenger compartment faces aft. The cockpit, which is rather blocky and has few rounded surfaces, is mounted on an almost flat surface with stretched between the two boom structures. The fighter has delta style wings and two control surfaces facing downwards near the rear of the fighter.

These fighters were originally fitted with a combat program designed to fight better than the pilots themselves. This program was found to be predictable and a large number of pilots were lost as a result. The program is no longer used by pilots and loss rates have decreased significantly.

This fighter does have some disadvantages when compared to starfighters from other universes. The ship uses ion engines which have a lower duration than the gravity based engines used in most Starships within the Three Galaxies. The Earth Directorate fighter also do not use missiles regularly and would likely suffer against any opponent who regularly uses missiles.

## Trivia

The design was developed from the early concept for the Colonial Viper featured in the Original version of Battlestar Galactica

## Merchandise

As well as a number of toy versions in different sizes, this ship has been the subject of two model kits - a 1:48 scale version produced by Monogram in the 1970s, and a 1:72 scale version produced by Fantastic Plastic models in 2011.

## Notes

1. ↑ Fusion power supply can run life support without any thrust for 2 years although rations and water will have long run out.
2. ↑ Uses special Stargates to travel Interstellar distances.
3. ↑ Can achieve escape velocity (Mach 32.6 / 25053 mph / 40320 kph)
4. ↑ If fighter is operating at maximum performance, reduce range by half. Fighter uses hydrogen for fuel for a fusion reactor. The fighter can operate with engines on standby to increase fighter’s range. The fighter has supplies for pilot for 3 weeks.
5. ↑ Used in the Season 1 episode Olympiad
6. ↑ Fitted in the back cockpit in emergencies.
7. ↑  Used for emergency equipment and weapons, a passenger can be crammed into the storage space in an emergency.
8. ↑ There are two known variants - an earlier version with additional control surfaces, and a four seat version known as the Quadfighter
9. ↑ Some of these had a flat plate between the tips of the cannon spikes - presumably for safety reasons.

## Sources

1. ↑ http://kitsunesden.xyz/SF-Conversions/Rifts-Other-Vehicles/Buck\_Rogers\_Starfighter.htm
2. ↑ https://memory-foxtrot.fandom.com/wiki/Earth\_Directorate\_Thunderfighter\_(Monogram)
3. ↑ https://memory-foxtrot.fandom.com/wiki/Earth\_Directorate\_Thunderfighter\_(Fantastic\_Plastic)