Wraith

The Wraith is a terran space superiority fighter that has seen extensive use throughout the history of engagements in the Koprulu sector.

Overview
The Confederacy used the Wraith in 2485 at the beginning of the Guild Wars. These Wraiths had access to laser weapons.

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. They primarily use missiles for their air/space attacks but could also use lasers for air/space targets. Against ground targets however, their lasers lacked punch.

Known for their maneuverability, piloting a Wraith was 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.

The Wraith's prominence diminished after the Brood War 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 intented for. With the development of the AH/G-24 Banshee, the Wraith lost it's anti-ground role to the new dedicated ground support craft, equipped with Wraith cloaking systems to boot.

Despite the advances in technology, Wraith squadrons were still maintained by the Terran Dominion until 2503   with the Dominion placing restrictions on the augmentations allowed on privately-owned Wraith fighters. They went out of service within the same year, no longer part of the Dominion Armed Forces. However, the mercenary group Raynor's Raiders still has access to Wraith fighters.

Wraiths are capable of both atmospheric and deep space flight, can withstand entry through a planet's atmosphere and are capable of travelling 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.

Variants
Quite a few variants of the Wraith exist. 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
The Wraith is best against large-sized air targets.

With the Apollo Reactor a Wraith can remain cloaked for over 3.5 minutes.

The ground attack and cloak make Wraiths useful for harassing the workers of poorly defended expansions. They're also useful for picking out lone units scouting before the opposition can react. Wraiths, however, have a weak ground attack, are fairly fragile against most units, and easily damaged. While this is compensated with the cloaking ability, Wraiths are not very massable due to their cost.

Quotations

 * See: Wraith Quotations

Development
During development, the Wraith was known as the Phoenix. In the StarCraft alpha the craft had a different appearance In the StarCraft beta, while the original name was retained, the craft had an appearance identical to its end successor. Both versions of these craft had Gemini missiles.

The name has since been adopted by a StarCraft II protoss unit.

StarCraft II
The Wraith has been replaced by the Viking in the anti-air role, while the Banshee is far superior in the ground attack role and inherits the Wraith's cloaking ability.

The Wraith appears in the StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty campaign as a "classic" unit. It is unlocked by playing the mission Engine of Destruction, available after Rory Swann was able to procure them for Raynor's Raiders. The Wraith can be upgraded to be built with an extra 100 energy, and a Displacement Field that allows the Wraith to avoid 20% of attacks when cloaked.

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
 * Harley
 * Lars Trakken