This has probably been discussed before but I wanted to bring up the issue with some ideas of my own.

At the moment I never know how many ships I have deployed. There needs to be a way for me to see the current number deployed. How many have been destroyed and the damage level of the ones still active. There needs to be a dialog screen showing me who they are attacking and what their status is. Right now we have 4 commands for our ships. Some feedback when those commands are issued would be nice. You'd get a voice over saying, for instance, "Escorting X ship" or "Intercepting target". Would be nice to be able to command individual wings. Wing one escort. Wing 2 attack. The return command should be to return to hanger. General A.I. needs to be improved. For instance, a pilot should know when the ship they are attacking is about to explode and should move away on their own. Ships should have attack patterns that they use for Attack, Intercept, and Escort.

Anyway, those are just some thoughts that I had. What do you guys think?

This is certainly an issue for me. I have a Kar Fi on my Orion alt (I know this is the Fed fleetyard, but it's a shared issue) and it can be difficult to know what's deployed. Frigates aren't to bad as you can at least see them and they have their names hovering over them, although that's no help if they run off behind you. Fighters just disappear into the black and are easily lost.

I'd like to see a pet window that at least tracks the health of the ships you've got out. That could potentially get cluttered, so maybe treating them as a wing and just tracking numbers. With my usual hanger set up:
Fer'Jai Frigate 1/1
Fer'Jai Frigate 1/1
S'Kul Fighter 3/3
S'Kul Fighter 3/3

Yes and oh yes! I would like to see different stances such as aggressive, defensive etc. Right now I don't know which command to go with, it seems that my pets attack at will no matter which command is active.

Also I agree on the status of the pets, it needs to be clearer if they are alive or not, and whether they are actually following you or not.

I agree with this, I use the Armitage and there is no way to know for sure the status of the pets.
I am planning to get the Kitty Carrier soon also.

Thank OP for the post.

I agree. I run runabouts and just spam the launch button. I ahve no idea if i need to but whatever. Its our only choice.

And on stf's like infected you have to recall cause its the only way to make sure they dont blow the generators.

Some better UI would be most welcome.