Rapier medium fighter
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The (fictional) F-44A Rapier II is a spacecraft in the Wing Commander computer game.
The YF-44 Rapier II is field-tested from 2653-4, its final field test being an examination deployment from the TCS Tiger's Claw in 2654 in the Gimle system; flown by then-Lieutenant Christopher Blair and Captain Jeannette Devereaux. After Gimle, the YF-44 is accepted into production as the F-44A; the F-44A is unchanged from the late-development prototype.
The F-44A Rapier II is an advanced medium space superiority starfighter which debuts in the late part of the game (the Kurosawa mission sequence) after a brief teaser in Gimle 2, the second mission of the third sequence in the game. The Rapier II has a high maximum speed of 450 kilometers per second (even faster than the speedy, light Hornet), afterburners up to 1,250 km/s, and rapid maneuverability. Its firepower includes twin laser cannons for long-distance fighting, twin neutron guns for close-in and an array of five missiles (two Dart Dumbfire, two Pilum Friend-or-Foe and one Spiculum Image Recognition missile).
In Wing Commander II: Vengeance of the Kilrathi, the Rapier II is still in service as the F-44G. The neutron guns have been replaced with longer-ranged particle cannon and the missile loadout is expanded to six (two Dart DF, two Pilum FF and two Spiculum IR).
The real XF-108 Rapier, the F-44's namesake, was a prototype Mach 3 interceptor/escort fighter developed by the North American Aircraft Company to escort its supersonic XB-70 Valkyrie long-range bomber. It was flight-tested in the late 1950s and scrapped without further development when the XB-70 was cancelled. Shortly afterwards, North American was acquired by Rockwell International and ceased to exist as an independent company. Rockwell's military aviation division was acquired by Boeing in the early 1990s.
A rapier is a thin, elongated sword designed for thrusting. It is held with one hand and easier to maneuver than heavier, two-handed swords. A rapier is seldom sharpened beyond the tip.
In the Wing Commander movie, the Rapier has a very different appearance from the game (the full-scale stage mock-up being constructed from the nose and cockpit sections of two English Electric Lightning jet fighters). The movie Rapier is designated CF-117b and its primary weapon is a gigantic gatling neutron gun on its nose; the lasers are never fired during the movie. The movie Rapier also carries only four missiles each, versus five for the game Rapier II.