Battlestar Galactica's Vipers Vs Star Wars' X-Wing Fighters: Which Spaceship Is Better?

The two major grunt forces of space fights in their respective universes, the iconic "Star Wars" X-Wing and "Battlestar Galactica's" Viper, are actually evenly matched once broken down. Even after three different iterations throughout "Battlestar," the X-Wing has a few tricks up its sleeve to get around the nimble Viper.

One-on-one, it's likely that the X-Wing would ultimately win. While the movies show the craft flying and being treated like a World War II plane (with good reason since "Star Wars" takes heavily from it), in the wider media, X-Wings have been known to pull off more advanced maneuvers. The Viper would have to spend a lot of time breaking down the X-Wing's deflector shields before even hitting the craft's armor.

"Battlestar Galactica," despite being a sci-fi show, was fairly realistic in its depiction of a massive war between an alien threat and humans. Ships like the Viper Mk.III were limited in use because there just wasn't enough cash to fund it and the rest of the war. However, even its latest editions, like the Mark VIIb, pale in comparison when it comes to a dogfight in the deepest corners of space.

So while there's good reason for the X-Wing to win over the Viper, let's still break down what each is bringing to the table. The average X-Wing, the T-65 and its successors, comes with four laser cannons and two proton torpedo launchers. While improvements were made to the X-Wing with the T-70 and T-85, these mostly added rotating guns to counteract enemies slipping up from behind, as well as additional warheads and mines to the roster of weapons for additional firepower. On top of this, there's a direct connection to an astromech droid for additional support, shields, and a hyperdrive.

Comparatively, the Viper is far more realistic, being built under a government that is strapped for cash and doesn't have science fiction on its side. Most Viper models come equipped with autocannons, or similar guns, which fire kinetic energy-powered ammo. Some craft come with missiles, but again, these are relatively realistic in comparison to the X-Wing. Firing the equivalent of a bullet at a craft that can fire beams of light at you doesn't sound particularly fair. Depending on the version of the Viper, armament appears to come and go, but it'll almost always have two guns.

To truly get the advantage on an X-Wing, the Viper pilots would have to swarm them with multiple craft, and hope they can wear down the shields. As they can't pivot in space like an X-Wing, it's still likely that before that can even happen, it'd leap into hyperspace – possibly damaging everything with it – or simply rotate the gun around on a later model to take out surrounding craft.

Meanwhile, the X-Wing's design never saw much in the way of an upgrade between the "Star Wars" movies. Newer versions have been seen — and Poe Dameron had a unique X-Wing in "The Force Awakens" — but it has ultimately stayed very much the same. Even before talking about the weapons that the X-Wing can fire on the Viper, it could likely smash directly into the craft in a desperation attempt and avoid much damage if the shields remain solid.

Now let's turn the X-Wing's weaponry on the Viper. What was a formidable opponent amongst the stars against the Cylons will be burnt up and left as debris in the X-Wing's wake. Not only does the X-Wing have its laser weapons, but a proton torpedo, additional help from computer systems and a potentially sentient robot to assist, but a literal Jedi could be in the cockpit.

This isn't to say the Viper would be annihilated quickly. You can see how it would hold up against something similar to the X-Wing's capabilities with the Cylon ships in the show. These feature laser guns too, which do rip apart Vipers with relative ease, but with the right pilot, they can outmaneuver the X-Wing to some degree. It wouldn't be a fair fight, but it'd be a killer thing to watch.