Scout

The scout is a protoss aerospace superiority and reconnaissance starfighter, a versatile and powerful craft that, despite its name, doubled readily as a frontline combatant. The protoss generally regarded it as a vessel for scouting, yet it was a match for most other craft in the sky, carrying antimatter missiles against aerial targets and dual photon blasters against the ground. It served the protoss fleet from the Golden Age of Expansion onward and proved a surprising equal to both zerg and terran opponents when war came to the Koprulu sector. (StarCraft (manual); StarCraft Compendium: Scout; It Will End in Fire; StarCraft Field Manual)

A versatile fighter beneath a modest name#

For all that the protoss generally consider the scout a craft for scouting, it is a versatile and powerful fighter in its own right, easily a match for most other vessels it meets in combat. Against aerial targets it employs antimatter missiles, which fare particularly well against heavyweight enemy flyers, and against ground targets it brings dual photon blasters to bear. The Dark Templar maintained their own scouts and equipped them with technology that let the fighters engage in faster-than-light travel through the Void, extending the design well beyond its original role. So sound was the basic airframe that some protoss escape pod designs were modeled after the scout and retained the fighter's prized maneuverability. (StarCraft (manual); StarCraft Compendium: Scout; StarCraft Field Manual; StarCraft: Shadow of the Xel'Naga; StarCraft: The Dark Templar Saga: Twilight)

Point guard of the fleet#

Scouts were in service as early as the Golden Age of Expansion, the long era of protoss prosperity and reach. Throughout their days of service they acted as point guards for the protoss fleet, an all-purpose air and space superiority fighter held ready in the hangars of carriers and called upon to engage hostile forces when battle was joined. Shortly before the Great War, recent developments in enhanced sensor systems and high-power engines further increased the scout's effectiveness. When the protoss found themselves drawn into conflict with both the zerg and the terrans, it was discovered that the scout matched up surprisingly well against these alien counterparts, performing as a capable frontline combat unit rather than merely a reconnaissance craft. (It Will End in Fire; StarCraft (manual); StarCraft Field Manual; StarCraft: Shadow of the Xel'Naga; StarCraft Compendium: Scout)

The long decline before the phoenix#

Since the end of the Brood War, the scout was steadily phased out in favor of the phoenix, the newer fighter that came to take its place as the protoss air superiority vessel of choice. The older design did not vanish entirely. It was still used by the Daelaam, and it was incorporated into the Tal'darim arsenal by 2504. Praetor Artanis piloted a scout during the Brood War. (Phoenix unit profile; StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty; StarCraft: Brood War)