Cylon Raider

Cylon Raider

Cylon Raiders from The Plan
First appearance	Mini Series, Part 1
Affiliation	Cylons
General characteristics
Armaments	Kinetic Energy Weapons Nuclear missiles
Propulsion	Sublight Propulsion FTL drive

The Raider is the standard starfighter employed by the Cylons in the 1978 science fiction television series and movie Battlestar Galactica along with its re-imagining in the 2003 miniseries and 2004 television series.

The Raider in the original 1978 series is a roughly saucer-shaped, twin-engine craft seen employed by the Cylon Empire and used in a fighter-bomber role. They were frequently depicted attacking the titular Battlestar, the rag-tag fleet it protects, their Viper fighters, and humans and targets on the surface of planets. Raiders were often shown flying in three-ship formations, strafing large ships and occasionally making kamikaze-style suicide attacks, notably striking Battlestar fighter launch and landing bays. They were used in an interceptor role against enemy craft approaching a Basestar.

Raiders feature large cockpits with three seats, two forward ones and one to the rear for the commander, whether that be a Cylon Centurion or the human traitor Baltar. In the episodes "The Living Legend" and "War of the Gods" Baltar utilizes a Raider to act as his personal transport. Albeit the Cylons are depicted as robots, their ship interiors were frequently depicted as containing a human-breathable atmosphere.

The original series' Raider made an appearance in the reimagined series vignette Battlestar Galactica: Razor, though slightly altered in appearance, and piloted by centurions very reminiscent of the originals.

In addition to the typical Raiders, a larger 'Super' Raider was depicted in the sequel series Galactica 1980. It was called the "AB Raider".

In the 2003 reimagining of Battlestar Galactica, the Cylon Raider is the main attack fighter used by the Cylons, participating in the destruction of the Twelve Colonies and later actions.