Wraith

"You know who the best star fighter in the fleet is? Yours truly."

- A Wraith pilot

The Wraith is a terran space superiority fighter used extensively in the Koprulu sector.

Overview
Wraiths primarily use missiles for their air/space attacks but can also use lasers for air/space targets. Against ground targets however, their lasers lack punch. Their armor provides little protection to the craft. Wraiths are known as a "phantom killer," due to their onboard cloaking technology which was powered by their Apollo reactors, and in later conflicts came to be used alongside banshees for cloaked strike forces.

Known for their maneuverability, piloting a Wraith is no small task however, and aspiring Colonial Fleet Wraith pilots already had to be certified combat pilots before gaining access to the new craft. Wraith pilots were typically "lionized" in a manner similar to destroyer captains.

Wraiths are capable of both atmospheric and deep space flight, can withstand entry through a planet's atmosphere and are capable of traveling at super-sonic speeds. It is generally a given that Wraiths will be attached to capital ships, as they lack the ability to make jumps through warp space. .Though they fell out of major use after the Great War, improvements continued to be made to the Wraith, including improved Tomahawk power cells and an advanced displacement field in order to help the craft dodge incoming enemy fire.

History
The Confederacy used the Wraith in 2485 at the beginning of the Guild Wars. These Wraiths had access to laser weapons. They served as a replacement to the Confederate Avenger.

By 2499, the Wraith was still considered the newest in a line of space superiority fighters. Traditionally, most space battles had taken place between capital ships and smaller gunships. However, Tarsonian technicians found that small, dynamic high-speed fighters could repeatedly deal damage to large ships while evading most defensive battery attacks.

The Wraith's prominence diminished after the as the conflict revealed several critical weaknesses in terran anti-air capability and Wraith's design itself: combined Wraith/Valkyrie squadrons were an unwieldy combination against agile zerg airborne organisms.The Viking was developed as a more versatile anti-air craft, which could better fulfill the role Wraiths were originally intended for. With the development of the AH/G-24 Banshee, the Wraith lost its anti-ground role to the new dedicated ground support craft, which was also equipped with Wraith cloaking systems to boot.

Wraiths remained in service by the Dominion after the Brood War; the Dominion placed restrictions on the augmentations allowed on privately-owned Wraith fighters. By 2504, they could still be found as part of the Dominion Armed Forces, despite being older technology. The mercenary group Raynor's Raiders also still has access to Wraith fighters. Statues of Wraith squadrons can be found on Korhal.

Currently, Wraiths are a rare sight in the Dominion Armed Forces. Flights of wraiths continued to be deployed by the Terran Dominion well into 2512.

Variants
The Wraith has been produced in multiple variants. Known variants include:

CF/A-17 Wraith
The CF/A-17 Wraith is the earliest known Wraith model, acting as the basis for all later variants. However, it has been supplanted by the CF/A-17G variant (see below). It is armed with Gemini Air-to-Air Missiles.

CF/A-17G Wraith
The CF/A-17G Wraith is an upgraded version of its A-17 predecessor and for all intents and purposes, represents the 'standard' Wraith. Its design was spurred by the lack of an effective terran air-to-ground unit below battlecruiser weight. As such, the G variant was designed featuring a 25mm burst laser in addition to Gemini missiles, for attacks against ground targets.

The CF/A-17G also features other upgrades. Equipped with the latest in ECM and stealth technology, the G variant features a built-in cloaking field which runs off the fighter's main power supply. The CF/A-17G is also capable of hovering, and equipped with a computer system which, among other functions, can key in on heat signatures and is compatible with an energy shield.

Wraiths with lasers were in use by 2485 (fighting at the first battle of the Guild Wars) and specifically identified by 2490.

DF/A-19 Wraith
The DF/A-19 Wraith Mk2 is an upgraded version of the CF/A-17G, possessing greater resilience and more powerful weapons without the loss of speed. The DF/A-19 was used by the mercenary group, "Unholy" Tara's Stalkers.

StarCraft

 * For StarCraft gameplay information see: Wraith (StarCraft).
 * For StarCraft in-game quotations see: StarCraft I Wraith Quotations.

StarCraft II

 * For StarCraft II gameplay information see: Wraith (StarCraft II).
 * For StarCraft II in-game quotations see: StarCraft II Wraith Quotations.

Known Units

 * Wraith Squadron Bravo

Known Craft

 * Wraith One Fox Three

Known Pilots

 * Colonel Tom Kazansky
 * Lieutenant Sela Brock
 * Lieutenant Charlie Vane
 * Lieutenant Wang
 * Corporal Dunsil
 * Cooper
 * Harley
 * Erik Snabb
 * Lars Trakken

Trivia
The wraith is used as the desktop icon for StarCraft/Brood War.