[Wolfman77]

If you had fighters on the planet and it was hit with weapons fire the fighters can be destroyed. Weapon platforms will give you some protection, because they are hit first. You can fill them with shields if you just want protection, but I've found that about half shields and half weapons are a good mix. I've also noticed that fighters will help the targeting ability of the weapons platforms. They get a built in offensive modifier and it seems to stack with weapons platforms. I would call it a feature since, if it was up to me, I would taget fighters on the ground before they were launched. The game just does that automatically.