Which is pretty much what they are in Frontier and Delta, really.

Frontier is pretty good - the Vajra are the first truly ALIEN alien race we've come across in-universe (Zentraedi and Zolans are Near-Humans, and Protodeviln aren't a race).

I honestly LIKE the VF-171, it's a very pretty mech.

Here's a question to ask. How available is the VF-1 on the public market? We've seen other space forces using their own fighter types - Starfuries for the Earth Alliance, Y-Wings for the Freespacers, TIEs for GENOM, etc. Who outside the WDF uses Valkyries? What does the Salusian Navy, for example, use for its primary fighter these days?