USAF reveals next F-35A, F-15EX base locations
The USAF has revealed its preferred locations for hosting the next Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightning II and Boeing F-15EX Eagle II units, marking a major boost for the US Air National Guard and the air arm’s plan to modernise its fighter force
Taiwan’s upgraded F-16s finally regain LOROP-EO pod capability
When the Republic of China Air Force’s (ROCAF’s) fleet of F-16A/B Block 20s were upgraded to the F-16V, the latest and most advanced configuration of the Fighting Falcon to date, it was discovered that the AN/VDS-5 Long Range Oblique Photography Electro-Optical (LOROP-EO) reconnaissance pod was not compatible with the newly modified aircraft
Egyptian MiG-29s feared to be destroyed as Sudan slides into war
A number of Egyptian Air Force MiG-29M/M2 Fulcrum fighters are believed to have been damaged or destroyed in Sudan after fighting erupted between government forces and a powerful militia on April 15
ROCAF begins operational testing of F-16V JHMCS
For the first time, Taiwan’s F-16V Joint Helmet Mounted Cueing System has been employed by the 17th Tactical Fighter Group – a part of the Republic of China Air Force’s 5th Tactical Composite Wing – as operational test and evaluation (OT&E) efforts begin at Hualien Air Base
F-16 Block 70/72: All you need to know about the most advanced Viper to date
The F-16 Block 70 could do a great job in the Ukraine and probably never will – but it still has very much a global footprint, as Jon Lake reports
JF-17 Block III, J-10CE star in Pakistan Day Parade rehearsals
The Pakistan Day Parade 2023 – which was expected to be a grand display of the country’s military prowess and cultural diversity – unfortunately had to be cancelled due to heavy rain, but the Pakistan Air Force still managed to show off both the highly anticipated Block III variant of the JF-17 Thunder and its newly acquired Chinese-made J-10CE fighters during the event rehearsals
Japan set to receive first F-35B Lightning IIs in 2025
The Japan Air Self-Defense Force is to receive its first short take-off and vertical landing-configured F-35B Lightning II from Lockheed Martin in 2025
Spanish F/A-18 assists stricken airliner during in-flight emergency
A Spanish Air and Space Force-operated F/A-18A+ Hornet assigned to 462 Escadron – a component of Ala 46 at Gando Air Base, Gran Canaria – recently provided support to an Airbus A321-211 belonging to Sunclass Airlines, after the airliner declared an in-flight emergency due to a possible landing gear problem
Lockheed Martin rolls out Bahrain’s first F-16 Block 70
Lockheed Martin formally rolled out the first dual-seat F-16D Block 70 Fighting Falcon for the Royal Bahraini Air Force during a ceremony at the firm’s production facility in Greenville, South Carolina, on March 10
Su-57 Felon: Why Russia’s first stealth fighter has yet to fully ‘take-off’
The fifth-generation stealth fighter Su-57 is among Russia’s top airpower priorities, but the ambitious project has suffered from protracted development and testing and the production effort is yet to gather speed. Alexander Mladenov reports
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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