Military Fighter Aircraft

Commonly called fighter aircraft or fighter jets; these fixed wing aircraft can be interceptors, bombers or reconnaissance aircraft with an electronic warfare role. Some modern fighter jets are what is called multirole aircraft. Military fast jets typically have one or two seats and often operate in a two-fighter team, with a lead and a wingman. It is their speed and versatility that distinguish a fighter from other types of military aircraft, such as transport planes or dedicated reconnaissance platforms.

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Sweden open to sending Gripens to Ukraine after joining NATO

On October 6, Swedish Defence Minister Pål Jonson announced that a transfer of JAS 39C/D Gripen multi-role fighters to Ukraine could be on the cards, although “domestic security reasons” mean that any such transfer “would be conditional on Sweden first becoming a member of NATO,” and thus covered by NATO’s collective defence commitments

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ADEX 2023: KAI’s KF-21 Boramae makes public debut in South Korea

Korea Aerospace Industries and South Korea’s Defense Acquisition and Procurement Agency publicly showcased the developmental KF-21 Boramae multi-role fighter at the Seoul International Aerospace and Defense Exhibition (ADEX) 2023, which was held from October 17-22

Russia welcomes additional Su-35S Flanker-E fighters

Russia’s state-owned Rostec State Corporation revealed on October 24 that a new batch of Su-35S Flanker-E fighters has been handed over to the Russian Ministry of Defence ahead of their upcoming transfer to the Russian Aerospace Forces

HMS Prince of Wales embarks on F-35B sea trials in the US

On October 11, a specially instrumented US Navy-operated F-35B Lightning II (168314/‘68’) landed aboard HMS Prince of Wales (R09) – the second of the Royal Navy’s two Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers – thereby kicking off Developmental Test Phase 3 sea trials with the type on the warship

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Belgium agrees to send outgoing F-16s to Ukraine from 2025

Brussels has pledged that Belgium will in fact join Denmark, Norway and the Netherlands in transferring some of its outgoing F-16AM/BM (MLU) Fighting Falcon fighters to Ukraine, though the first of an undisclosed number of jets will not be handed over to Kyiv until 2025

Slovakia’s first F-16 Block 70 completes maiden flight

The first of 14 F-16C/D Block 70 Fighting Falcon multi-role fighters for Slovakia completed its maiden flight from Lockheed Martin’s production facility in Greenville, South Carolina, at approximately 0930hrs (local time) on September 29

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France hands over first dual-seat Rafale fighter to Croatia

The first dual-seat Dassault Rafale B for the Croatian Air Force was officially handed over during a ceremony at Mont-de-Marsan Air Base (BA118) on October 2, which was attended by Croatian Defence Minister Mario Banožić and other high-ranking political and military personnel

Florida ANG F-15C/Ds take part in combined exercise in Colombia

Several F-15C/D Eagles from the 159th Fighter Squadron ‘Boxin’ Gators’ – a component of the Florida ANG’s 125th Fighter Wing – deployed to Palanquero, Colombia, on August 18 to participate in the combined exercise, Àngel de los Andes and Relámpago VIII

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South Korea axes F-35B acquisition plan to grow F-35A fleet?

Seoul has requested a government-to-government Foreign Military Sale for the purchase of 25 fifth-generation F-35A Lightning II fighters has been approved by the US State Department

USMC’s ‘Silver Eagles’ conclude final legacy Hornet deployment

Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 115 (VMFA-115) ‘Silver Eagles’ departed MCAS Iwakuni in Japan on September 28, marking the conclusion of a six-month Unit Deployment Program tour in the Indo-Pacific region with Marine Aircraft Group 12 (MAG-12)

Fighter aircraft were not the first heavier-than-air military aircraft. During the First World War bi-planes with a pilot and a crew member would carry out. Guns were soon added to these aircraft and the fighters were born; the term dogfight became synonymous with the new form of aerial combat. These aircraft would also crudely drop bombs with a crew member simply throwing the bombs out of the aircraft. After the First World War, fighter development led to the single wing, enclosed cockpit, propeller powered aircraft such as the RAF Hawker Hurricane, Luftwaffe Messerschmitt Bf 109 and the United States Army Airforce North American Aviation P-51 Mustang. After the war, the RAF Gloster Meteor was the RAF’s first operational jet fighter and it was rapidly joined by fast jets from France, Russia and the USA.

Today, the roles of military fast jets have hardly changed, from intercepting other fast jets fighters or bombers, to maintaining air superiority, they are bombing air defences and photographing bombed sites for battle damage assessment as well as escorting slower, more vulnerable aircraft.

Different Types of Fighter Planes

From the first aerial reconnaissance aircraft, the Wright brothers military flyer, or Model A, sold to the US military in 1909, it took 45 years until the United States Airforce’s North American F-100 Super Sabre became the world’s first operational supersonic fighter in 1954. There has been a huge amount of technological development between the Super Sabre and the world’s first operational fifth generation fighter, the United States Marine Corp’s Lockheed Martin F-35B/C Lightning II, which entered service in 2015. All fixed wing aircraft, since the advent of jet fighters in World War Two, have been a variety of designs to meet the military’s changing needs. Jet engines were in development before World War Two, but it was only near the end of that war that the first operational fast jet fighter, the Messerschmitt Me 262, took to the skies.

Fighters steadily developed to fly higher and faster, carry more payloads, both missiles and bombs, and became supersonic. The need for greater speed saw the delta wing shape for supersonic flight, air-to-air missiles were used in the Korean War for the first time, and it was only later that fighters were equipped with radar, allowing for longer range interception. The 1960s saw the development of vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) capability with the Royal Navy’s Hawker Siddeley Harrier, which is still in service with the Indian military. Propeller powered fighter aircraft did not end with the flights of the Gloster Meteor and the 1950s saw experiments with VTOL propeller powered aircraft that sat on their tails in a vertical position.

Since the 1980s fast jets have become stealthy, first with the now retired Lockheed Martin F-117 Nighthawk which was primarily a bomber, to the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor, an interceptor, and the multirole Lockheed Martin F-35, which are both said to have very small radar signatures.

Find out more about other types of Military Aircraft

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