Fleet performance is all that counts. (It's also much harder to test properly in the simulator, which I think is where some of the single-ship focus in optimization is coming from.)
Consider Talons/Converted Hangars from a fleet perspective.
If you have carrier-spec'd officers to spare, carriers with expensive fighters are amazing. Talons are great value, but they mostly raise flux by getting shot at and occasionally land rockets on armor. Their low replenishment timer is good for offsetting the Converted Hangar penalty, but a manned carrier's fighters are survivable enough not to need it.
If all your officers are gunnery-spec'd, sure, spam destroyers with hangars full of Talons as support. They'll provide some extended PD and flux advantage. And harass any frigates that escape long range guns. They're not going to wreck ships on their own.
As for the Sunder, if it has heavier ships to fall back to (and doesn't get volleyed/Salamandered/fighter swarmed) Unstable Injector isn't critical. ITU is very helpful to increase overlapping weapon arcs, though. The AI is occasionally skittish about firing past friendlies.
