Space fighter

A space fighter, strike fighter, or simply fighter,  known by the Covenant as Strikecraft and to the UNSC as an interceptor,  are small, versatile, and maneuverable spacecraft, primarily used for exoatmospheric interception, interdiction, or space-supremacy operations.

Summary
These ships are unable to enter slipspace by themselves, and need to be launched from planetary bases, orbiting space stations, or capital ships to conduct strike-operations against enemy warships, intercept fighters, and provide escort for warships and dropships. Their size varies from a few meters to well over 50 meters. Most known space fighters are spaceplanes, capable of operating in both atmospheric/exoatmospheric (A/X) and suborbital/orbital (S/O) environments. The Forerunner Warrior-Servants often used space fighters in combat. Some space fighters, called weapon-ships, could be remotely-controlled at a ratio of up to a million ships per warrior.

Warships primarily designed to transport and maintain fighter-squadrons are commonly known as carriers. In the UNSC Navy, starfighters were deployed from all warships larger than a corvette, as corvettes were too small to carry anything larger than a shuttle. s are capable of reconfiguring themselves as light carriers by sacrificing weapons installations and cargo bays for increased fighter capacity. UNSC doctrine typically dictates the launching of a fighter assault against an enemy fleet employing wolf-pack tactics before it can swarm a capital ship.

During the Battle of Biko, Nizat 'Kvarosee deployed his fighters in a tight "shell" around their motherships, ensuring that any attempt to board his vessels would be met with failure, considered an unusual deployment tactic by the UNSC. This differed from usual Covenant deployment tactics, which would see fighters deploy straight to attack the enemy, leaving their capital ships relatively undefended.

Covenant

 * Type-27 Banshee - An exoatmospheric variant of the Type-26 Banshee, it was the standard interceptor support craft of the Covenant fleet.


 * Gigas fighter-bomber - The Gigas fighter-bomber was an older craft. Though it still saw deployment as late as 2526 from the Fleet of Swift Justice.

Human

 * GA-TL1 Longsword - The primary fighter of the UNSC fleet. Two known variants of the Longsword exist including the C709 Longsword and the C712 Longsword.


 * S-14 Baselard - The Baselard was a two-seater fighter craft in use by the UNSC as early as 2526.
 * Nandao fighter - The Nandao fighter was a type of fighter used by the UNSC as early as 2526.

Forerunner

 *  - The Despair-class fighter was a Forerunner fighter that was buildable from a ship-seed.

Halo: Reach
During the level Long Night of Solace, the player has the opportunity to fly the YSS-1000 Sabre over Reach. Through the Pilotable Seraph glitch, players are able to fly the Morsam-pattern Seraph as well. For the "Thorage" update in Halo: The Master Chief Collection, the Sabre and Seraph were added to the Forge inventories of Forge World and Tempest - marking the first time a Seraph has been flyable without glitches or exploits.

Halo 4
In the final level Midnight, the player is given the opportunity to fly the F-41 Broadsword through the Forerunner ship Mantle's Approach. For the "Thorage" update which saw Halo 4 brought to PC platforms, the Master Chief Collection version of Halo 4 was updated to make the Broadsword useable in multiplayer. The Broadsword can be spawned in Forge on the maps Impact, Ravine, Erosion and Forge Island.

Production notes
During the development of Halo 2, the UNSC were intended to have a dedicated space fighter during the Battle of Earth. The fighter was nicknamed the "strike fighter", though was cut from the game.