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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Lives ‘put at risk’ as Russian fighter buzzes USAF MC-12W over Syria

Pentagon officials have said lives were ‘put at risk’ when a Sukhoi Su-35S Flanker-E fighter jet from the Russian Aerospace Forces came perilously close to a USAF intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft over Syria

US to send F-16s, F-35s to tackle Iranian attacks on oil tankers

The US is to send F-16 Fighting Falcon and F-35 Lightning II multi-role fighters to the Middle East in a bid to counter an increase in Iranian attacks on ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz, the Pentagon has revealed

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INTERVIEW: What it takes to be Belgium's F-16 'Viper' display pilot

Benoît Denet meets Belgium’s F-16 Dream Viper demo pilot, Captain Steven De Vries, callsign ‘Vrieske’, to find out what it takes to put his aircraft through its paces at air shows across Europe

UK welcomes delivery of additional F-35B Lightning IIs

The UK has taken delivery of an additional two Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning IIs, growing the number of examples of the fifth-generation multi-role stealth fighter delivered to date to 32 aircraft

USAF plots transition plan for A-10C units in Georgia, Idaho

The USAF revealed its latest fielding plans for the F-35A Lightning II on June 26, when it announced the selection of Moody AFB, Georgia, as the next preferred location to receive the fifth-generation multi-role stealth fighter

USMC's 'Black Knights' carry out first trans-Pacific F-35C deployment

Four F-35C Lightning IIs from the USMC’s Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 314 (VMFA-314) ‘Black Knights’ at MCAS Miramar, California, recently carried out their first trans-Pacific deployment to Australia for integrated training with the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF).

Russia welcomes new Su-35S batch as fighter production ramps up

Another batch of Sukhoi Su-35S Flanker-E multi-role fighters has been handed over to the Russian Ministry of Defence, with the completion of this latest delivery being confirmed by Russia’s United Aircraft Corporation – a subsidiary of the state-owned Rostec State Corporation – on June 23

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Indonesia buys Qatari Mirage 2000-5s to plug air defence gap

Indonesia has confirmed it signed an initial contract to buy the outgoing fleet of 12 French-made Dassault Mirage 2000-5EDA/DDA fighters from the Qatar Emiri Air Force as a short-term solution to filling the long-standing gap in the nation’s domestic air defense while it waits for its first Dassault Rafales to be delivered

Ukraine eyes retired Australian F/A-18s to help boost war effort

Ukraine, Australia and the US are reported to be currently engaged in discussions regarding the potential transfer of up to 41 ex-Royal Australian Air Force-operated Boeing F/A-18A/B Hornet multi-role fighters to Kyiv in a bid to strengthen the Ukrainian Air Force’s airpower capabilities as the nation’s war with Russia continues

USAF F-22s deploy to Middle East amid rising Russian tensions

US Central Command announced on June 14 that several F-22A Raptor fifth-generation air superiority fighters from the USAF’s 94th Fighter Squadron ‘Hat in the Ring’ have deployed to an undisclosed location in the Middle East amid rising tensions between the US and Russia in Syria and Ukraine

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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