Starfighters Space is a company that uses F-104 Starfighters for contract testing and flight simulations.
History The company, initially called Starfighters, was founded by Rick Svetkoff in 1995 in Clearwater, Florida, to restore and fly three former Canadair CF-104 Starfighters at air shows across the United States and Canada. Initially their CF-104s consisted of a two-seat CF-104D Serial#:104632 (registered as ), and two single-seat CF-104s Serial#s: 104850 (registered as ) and 104759 (registered as ). The aircraft were originally operated with the Royal Canadian Air Force and all later served with the Royal Norwegian Air Force before being imported into the U.S. in the early 1990s.Starfighters F-104 Demo Team Retrieved: 6 February 2008
In the 2010s, the company reduced its air show appearances and took more government and private contract work—for example, providing high-performance photo chase planes for flight tests, simulating enemy aircraft in military exercises, and modelling ballistic missiles for detection system evaluation.March, Peter R. "Starfighters Inc Receives Italian F-104s." Aircraft, August 2011 In summer 2011, the company acquired five more aircraft. The estimated cost of restoration of each of the five aircraft is $1 million.March, Peter R. "Starfighters Inc Receives Italian F-104s." Aircraft, August 2011
In late 2025, the organization created Starfighters Space, focused on air-to-orbit launches of small satellite and payloads. The IPO raised $40 million from 11 million shares of common stock.
In February 2026, Svetkoff stepped down as CEO; he was replaced by Tim Franta, VP of Development since October 2022.
Lawsuits In April 2026, Svetkoff sued Starfighters Space and its leaders, alleging breach of fiduciary duty, self-dealing, and mismanagement of corporate assets; he sought damages of more than $26 million and other relief. Starfighters Space denied the allegations and says it plans to defend the suit, countering that internal investigations show questionable actions by Svetkoff.
In May 2026, Starfighters Space filed suit in the Southern District of Florida against suspected short sellers and a short and distort scheme. Their lawsuit (Starfighters Space Inc. et al. v. Does 1 Through 10) charges anonymous actors, in hopes that the discovery portion of the trial would reveal their identities. The "Does" are accused of taking a short position in Starflighter stock and pseudonymously publishing a defamatory and inaccurate report about the company's management and finances, leading to stock declines.
Fleet CF-104D, ex-Canadian Armed Forces serial number 104632, registered as N104RB"N-Number Inquiry Results Registration N104RB Serial number 104632." Federal Aviation Administration, Retrieved: 27 July 2021. CF-104G, ex-Canadian Armed Forces serial number 104759, registered as N104RN"N-Number Inquiry Results Registration N104RN Serial number 104759." Federal Aviation Administration, Retrieved: 27 July 2021. CF-104G, ex-Canadian Armed Forces serial number 104850, registered as N104RD"N-Number Inquiry Results Registration N104RD Serial number 104780." Federal Aviation Administration, Retrieved: 27 July 2021. F-104B, ex-USAF serial number 56-1296, registered as N65354"FAA Registry: N65354." faa.gov Retrieved: 27 July 2021. F-104S, ex-Italian Air Forces serial number MM6734, registered as N993SF"N-Number Inquiry Results Registration N993SF Serial number MM6734." Federal Aviation Administration, Retrieved: 27 July 2021. TF-104G-M serial number 54251, registered as N990SF"FAA Registry: N990SF." faa.gov Retrieved: 27 July 2021. TF-104G-M serial number 54258, registered as N991SF"FAA Registry: N991SF." faa.gov Retrieved: 27 July 2021. TF-104G-M serial number 54261, registered as N992SF"FAA Registry: N992SF." faa.gov Retrieved: 27 July 2021.
References
External links
(Last live archive as Starfighters, Inc.)
Hi-res virtual tours of the Starfighter Aerospace fleet