core fighter

A type of fictional, aerospace one-man starfighter from the Gundam universe.

It first appeared in the Mobile Suit Gundam science fiction mecha anime TV series from 1979.

While there are dozens of different Core Fighters - usually being a different model for each machine they are mated to -, they all serve roughly the same purpose: forming the center of the Mobile Suit, as part of the Core Block System, and acting as an escape pod in the worst case scenario.