Origin

I have mentioned the Wing Commander series in the past regarding innovation, a potential remake, and the novels.  With respect to that third topic, I expressed disappointment that the books fizzled out right as they were approaching the depth and complexity of a Falkland Islands style conflict.  When I wrote that I was thinking of it as an evolution in storytelling; advanced beyond the simplistic black and white of the Kilrathi-Terran War.  Little did I know at the time, it wasn't so much of an innovation as more of a return to the roots of the franchise.  

Chris Roberts is the creator of Wing Commander.  When asked in various interviews over the years where he drew his inspiration from, typical answers included things like the movie "Top Gun" and "Star Wars", as well as the TV mini-series "Battlestar Galactica" (the 1978 version).  The Kilrathi are basically a copy of sci-fi writer Larry Niven's "Kzinti", a race of feline aliens from the "Known Universe" setting.  What he tends to avoid mentioning is how much real-life conflicts trickled their way into his creative process.

The Falkland Islands War took place in 1982 between the U.K. and Argentina.  At the time Chris Roberts was 13~14 years old and living in Manchester.  For most of the world, the conflict was of minor concern (only worthy of a reoccurring two minute segment on the nightly news).  Obviously, for the two countries involved though, it was a much bigger deal.  There were carrier airstrikes, amphibious assaults and a fair amount of death occurring on those remote islands in the South Atlantic Ocean.  Three capital ships that played a major part in that war were Exeter, Coventry and Sheffield.  They are names that are also prominently featured in Wing Commander.  Looking at certain cutscenes in the first game, it's easy to notice Terran Confederation commandos who are dressed conspicuously like certain units that fought to secure the islands on land.  Aircraft operations during the war were typically conducted individually or in pairs with Harrier jets, in particular, performing air patrols in twos.  During these operations, it was common for British pilots to find themselves with no safe place to land except the carrier they took off from.  They were also outnumbered by a large margin.  Despite this fact, they were able to inflict losses on the Argentinian air force disproportional to their own due to the general (albeit marginal) superiority of their own aircraft.  This tactical situation (in broad terms) is almost identical to that found in the Wing Commander games.

Despite being on the offensive, the Royal Navy had to take great pains to escort and protect it's supply ships due to the extreme distance from any friendly port.  The infamous Exocet missile that damaged and sunk several British warships is also represented in Wing Commander in the form of the Kilrathi "Skipper" torpedo.  While technically a torpedo in-universe and not a missile, it's worth noting that the dumb-fire missiles in all the Wing Commander games make up for their lack of guidance by having a bigger warhead.  When the captain of the nuclear submarines HMS Conqueror sank the Argentinian cruiser Belgrano, he did so using unguided torpedoes (deliberately because he wanted the extra punch they carried over newer designs).

As the series progressed, Wing Commander became more and more World War 2 in space.  However, that is not how things began.  The fighters the player flies in Wing Commander 1 and 2 are sleek like jets.  Enemy capital ships can launch missiles or strike craft the way a frigate or destroyer that fought in the Falkland islands War might launch a Sea Dart or send up a helicopter.  In the first game, capital ships lacked and special defenses (such as phase shields) and were as vulnerable to conventional fighter attacks as any real-life warship (both then and now).  Certainly, the Kilrathi (who were shown surrendering in certain cutscenes in the original Wing Commander) became more and more like stereotypical Imperial Japanese with a bit of Islamic terrorist sprinkled in later on.  Personally, I'm glad they chose not to make them South American, though something more nuanced would have been better than the xenophobic characterization we ultimately got.