Starfighters

Starfighters are small spacecraft designed for combat, used by military and police forces and sometimes by private interests. Some starfighters are equipped with Hyperdrive of their own, but most starfighters have to be carried aboard larger ships equipped with Hyperdrive for travel over an interstellar or intergalactic distance.

Starfighters traditionally were Shuttlecraft converted into combat vessels, but in recent millennia, a number of designs were developed strictly as starfighters:  Y-wing fighters, X-wing fighters, and TIE fighters.