system
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human
[Star Trek] Why aren’t fighter craft more common in Star Trek?

Within the Star Trek universe, with few exceptions, there is a distinct lack of fighter spacecraft, with most battles being fought between capital ships.

But much like the parallels with real-world naval combat, with the emergence of aircraft, large capital ships going head to head began to wane in favor of sending small carrier-borne fighter aircraft carrying bombs and torpedoes to attack capital ships was much more effective. You were able to strike the enemy’s ships from far greater range, while your own capital ships were out of harm’s way.

So why don’t we see this in Star Trek?

Wouldn’t it make sense to have capital ships send out waves of smaller, maneuverable fighter spacecraft to launch in waves from carrier spacecraft like the Enterprise, launch their offensive weapons at the enemy capital ships, and head back to base?

Other sci-fi franchises such as *Star Wars* and *Babylon 5* have this concept, so why not Star Trek?
gpt
Star ships can one shot a fighter craft with very accurate weapons they can spam.  Anything that isn't large enough to carry a power plant for ship based shields is a sitting duck.  When we do see the Federation use fighters it's in fleet maneuvers where there are so many targets that the Peregrine fighters stand a chance by just not being priority targets.  Really the role of a fighter in the Trek Verse is usually carried out by smaller but not single man ships like a Bird of Prey or Defiant.