I just want to say that:
1. I agree with the OP, Fighters are taking far too many Deployment Points. But they're largely fine up until the point where the AI fleets start having far more DP than players.
Alex has said that this is for performance reasons, so that means that increasing the number of Fighters is impractical. Therefore, they probably need to be buffed.
2. Strike fighters really need to engage at maximum ranges and then return to refit, in order to have reasonable survivability. However, that means that if you're going to use them, they need to be deployed in numbers that will be effective, so that they'll saturate.
3. Bombers remain almost totally ineffective for costs.
4. The assault fighters (Gladius et al) don't have a single member with a shield, making them absurdly vulnerable to AOE spam and beams. They either need a moderate increase in armor or a Shield with a poor efficiency ratio.
5. The Mining Pod is a demonstration of futility. Mining Lasers lack the range, damage or anything else to be effective and are by far one of the worst weapons in the game. Honestly, I think the main problem there is the weapon.
6. The more-refits-per-deck thing works, but I'm really not sure the 10-chassis-per-fighter works. If that was a different value for each fighter type (so that, say, Talons got 30 but a shielded Gladius got 10) it'd be a powerful and useful balance tool.
7. Some of the fighters need at least one additional member in their Wings to be truly effective, as they're practically guaranteed to lose a member on the way in and are then largely ineffective. Some Wings need a setting that prevents them from going into action until their replacements have arrived, so that they'll be effective at all.
8. It'd be nice if Wings were a convenience during non-combat periods, but the fighters used individual AI. They get hammered so often because they're not using dispersal well.