If you (or a corp. member) plan on using a ship with transwarp you should drop single fighters regularly. Especially in dead ends, where they will tend to survive longer. These fighters will also slow your opponents who try to Eprobe to explore. I drop them even when I don't plan on using a ship with Twarp capability.
 

Maximum Deployed Fighters

You can only deploy 50,000 fighters in a sector with no planet. A sector with 2 or more planets you can put near unlimited fighters. I have never tested for a max but I think you can put at least 100M fighters in that sector. I know the sysop can tedit the fighters to over 2 Billion fighters. Ports do not affect the amount of fighters allowed in a sector only planets in mbbs version. If there is a limit it is most likely to be 4.5 Billion. (AX.BBS/TW.NET - ML:The Emperor@DCI, 6/25/96).