Arrow light fighter
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The fictional Arrow light fighter was a small, swift, agile craft seen in three installments of Wing Commander. It was originally designed in the early 2650s. Like the real-world F-16 Fighting Falcon, the lightweight Arrow grew into a powerful, flexible and capable fighter over its lifespan. There are at least four variants of the Arrow:
"Arrow-A": In service from at least 2654, this first variant is first seen in the episode "The Red and the Blue" of Wing Commander Academy (the TV cartoon). The Arrow-A is the primary light fighter of the TCS Lexington special operations carrier in 2669 (Wing Commander: Armada). It is fast and agile, and armed with two laser cannon and two Dart DF missiles.
"Arrow-B": Entering service late and serving until the end of the war in 2670, this is the most well-armed version of the Arrow. This second version of the Arrow adds a pair of ion cannon and eight missiles, creating an agile, hard-hitting light fighter with a copious weapons loadout. This version replaced the utterly inadequate F-54C Epee in the role of carrier-based point defense interceptor, while still having enough fuel tankage to perform long-ranged operations, and was a favorite mount through the last years of the Kilrathi War.
"Arrow-C": The "C" version of the Arrow is a stripped-down peacetime craft, with four missiles removed but otherwise unchanged from the earlier models.
"Stealth Arrow": This version of the Arrow is essentially a stealth version of the post-war Arrow; the weight and space opened up by the removal of two of the Arrow-B's missile hardpoints is utilized by the addition of a cloaking device. The Stealth Arrow is in limited operational use by the end of the Black Lance Crisis.
After the Black Lance crisis, Confederation military planners discovered to their chagrin that the venerable Arrow has reached its expansion limit, and begin to plan a successor fighter.
By 2680, the Arrow is obsolete and out of service, replaced by the F-106 Piranha light scout fighter.
Namesake
The Arrow was named for the Avro Arrow, a Canadian-designed interceptor which was briefly tested in the late 1950s and broken up for scrap in 1959.