The Operion shipyards no longer manufacture any fighters, as
the Yaeger Battle yards have virtually cornered the local market
for military space craft, by virtue of their government connection,
which supplies them with high quality engineers and vast amounts of
capital. The last fighter produced by Operion, the Kulak, flew off
the line eighty years ago. the Kulak was never been able to
complete with the much more effective Hunters. However, they are equipped with the
Yaeger's trademark plasma blaster and charge missiles, and a
Operion 14 would command an enormous price to research groups
outside of Yaeger Space.
The Kulak is a solidly designed ship, and is still the primary
fighter of many backwards or poor organizations. In addition, as
it is a somewhat more rugged design than the relatively delicate
Hunter, there are those fighter pilots that prefer the Kulak, even
when Hunters are available.