- They have one very big use: Mineral Haulers.
- Fighters are extremely efficient in terms of Maintenance Life, and they aren't terribly fuel inefficient. They can be used to haul minerals to and from CMCs or other sources of mining. Yes, the Mass Driver does it better, but from a Role-Play standpoint this matters. They are also faster than Mass Drivers, especially late game, and such might outdo it from time to time.
- Likewise with Commercial Hangars they could be used to set up Orbital Miners. The Orbital Miner goes to a location and the fighters go to unload it at a centralized drop-off point for collection by bigger freighters. These bigger haulers could mount a Jump Drive for moving said Orbital Miners, or a mothership could be used for the purpose instead.
- Alternatively, in a Conventional Start they could be used alongside Fighter-Sized Colony Ships and Fighter-Sized Troop Transports to move Colonists, Construction Vehicles and the minerals to build Infrastructure around... thus providing colonization.
- In the same vein, they could be used to colonize new systems from a central colony, since the maintenance and fueling facilities needed would be minimal, and Fighter Factories and Ground Forces Construction Facilities would be the only real requirement to construct them and their constituent parts.