The Kobayashi Maru is a test in the fictional Star Trek universe. It is a Starfleet training exercise designed to test the character of cadets in the command track at Starfleet Academy. The Kobayashi Maru test was first depicted in the opening scene of the film Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and also appears in the 2009 film Star Trek.

This provided context for how the main character ensign (later admiral) James T. Kirk deals with the possibility of unwinnable situations in general and death in particular. The civilian vessel Kobayashi Maru is the precipitating element in a simulated battle with the Klingons.

The ship is disabled and the approaching cadet crew must decide whether or not to attempt rescue of the Maru crew - potentially endangering their own ship/lives - or leave the Kobayashi Maru to certain destruction. The difficult decision to assist "Maru" revolves around the issue of the disabled ship's location being in the Klingon Neutral Zone, as entering the zone would be in violation of the Organian Peace Treaty. (The test's name is occasionally used among Star Trek fans or those familiar with the series to describe a no-win scenario.) The training exercise in Star Trek II describes the Kobayashi Maru as a Class III neutronic fuel carrier-ship commanded by Kojiro Vance with 81 crewmembers and 300 passengers.

Dead weight tonnage: 147,943 MT; cargo capacity: 97,000 MT; length: 237m; beam: 111m; height: 70m; max cruise speed: wf 3; max emergency speed: wf 6. The name is Japanese: Kobayashi (?) means "small forest" and is a common family name; Maru (?) is a common suffix for Japanese ship names.

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