Squadron

Squadrons are miniature battle units that fly towards enemies and deal damage upon arrival. They are deployed from long range and can deal damage when they reach an enemy.

Unlike weapons, however, you can shoot them down, forcing them to return - its remaining health is indicated by the red bar. Squadrons also have a limited flight time, which is indicated by the blue bar. When they run out of fuel, they are also forced to return.

Some squadrons fly straight towards the enemy while others flank the enemy. Flanking in itself is both an advantage and a disadvantage. Sometimes it can easily bombard a ship in their minimal range firing arc but sometimes it means flying straight into the defending weapons.

Combat Details
Squadrons have statistics that are direct counterparts to those of weapons: Damage, Speed, Minimum Range and Maximum Range. However, they additionally have Health and Flight Time as described above.

Damage
This has the same meaning as the Damage stat of weapons, except that a squadron's damage output diminishes proportionally as it loses health. For example, a squadron at 25% health only deals 25% of its listed damage.

Speed
This is the speed at which the squadron moves in combat. Faster squadrons are able to better evade enemy weapon fire and waste less time catching up to its targets.

Range
Squadrons have same the Targeting Range semantics as weapons.

Note that squadrons do not have a Projectile Range - once locked onto a target, they will continue to pursue and damage that target even if the target later exits the targeting range. However, they will be forced to retreat upon manual retargeting, regardless of whether the new target is within targeting range.