Your guide to KAI's KF-X fighter ahead of its roll out
Key.Aero provides a detailed overview of Korea Aerospace Industries’ new multi-role fighter, the Korea Fighter eXperiment (KF-X), ahead of the roll out of the first prototype tomorrow (April 9)
USAF officially names the F-15EX
The US Air Force’s (USAF’s) newest multi-role fighter and latest incarnation of the Boeing F-15 Eagle family, the F-15EX, will be officially known as the ‘Eagle II’ in operational service
Eielson's F-35As: A Sub-Zero Lightning Storm
With two squadrons now following an aggressive schedule to be combat ready by the end of this year, Eielson AFB in Alaska is proving that the F-35A Lightning II is perfectly suited to operations in Arctic conditions, as Key.Aero reports
Have Glass: Making the F-16 less observable
You can’t turn an F-16 into a stealth fighter, it will always show up on enemy radar, but by reducing its radar signature, you can make it a lot less visible. We explain how the USAF has set about doing just that
Tyndall to host three new F-35A squadrons
A Record of Decision has been issued by the USAF, making Tyndall AFB, Florida, the official location to host three new squadrons of the Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightning II
![F-16AM (MLU) Fighting Falcon [Belgian MOD]](https://fullfatthings-keyaero.b-cdn.net/sites/keyaero/files/styles/listing_card/public/2021-03/lockheed_martin_f-16am_mlu_fighting_falcon_belgian_mod_1.jpg?h=203784d2&itok=HX-HTwds)
Belgium resumes F-16 operations after engine woes
The Belgian Air Component has gradually resumed the operation of its F-16AM/BM (MLU) Fighting Falcon fleet, after it was grounded earlier this month due to the discovery of a defect with the multi-role fighter’s powerplant
First F-16 arrives at Greenville for depot sustainment program
Lockheed Martin has received its first F-16 from the US Air Force as part of a US$900m indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract the company received in December 2020 to provide sustainment support and depot-overflow services for the type
Final Sayonara for Japanese Phantoms
After retiring the last operational F-4EJ Phantoms from service, the Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF) has now also completed the withdrawal of the remaining examples of the type
Israel set to move two F-16 units to Ramat David
Two Israeli Air Force F-16 squadrons are to relocate from Hatzor Air Base to Ramat David Air Base. The planned move, which was announced by the IAF on March 10, involves 101 ‘First Fighter’ and 105 ‘Scorpion’ Squadrons
USAF accepts its first F-15EX
The USAF formally accepted its first F-15EX at Boeing’s facility in St Louis, Missouri, on March 10 – just over a month after the multi-role fighter graced the skies for the first time
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.
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