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.

Swedish Gripen C/D upgrade aims to keep type relevant until mid-2030s

Sweden’s Defence Materiel Administration has contracted Saab to upgrade the Swedish Air Force’s entire JAS 39C/D Gripen fleet in a bid to keep the multi-role fighters operationally relevant until the mid-2030s

Thai F-16A ADF Fighting Falcon written-off in crash

A Lockheed Martin F-16A-15 ADF Fighting Falcon belonging to the Royal Thai Air Force was written-off after it crashed in the Chatturat district of Thailand’s Chaiyaphum province at approximately 1340hrs (local time) on March 8

Polish MiG-29 News Premium

US slams Poland's MiG-29 transfer offer as untenable

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Ukraine air assets outmatched against Russia

The weaknesses of Ukraine’s air defence capabilities would leave any attempt to launch an aerial counterattack to a Russian invasion of its territory as vulnerable given Moscow’s qualitative and quantitative advantages

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ANALYSIS: The Russian air assets that would prove vital in a conflict with Ukraine

Ukraine would face a massive task confronting the well-trained and technologically advanced assets of the Russian Aerospace Forces, as we explain

Leonardo says it has “no evidence of issues” on Kuwait Typhoon allegations

European defence prime Leonardo said it is not the subject of a judicial investigation in relation to the delivery of 28 Typhoon multi-role fighters to Kuwait, hours after Kuwaiti news outlets reported the alleged misappropriation of public funds by military officers in relation to the programme

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Forecasting Thunder: An overview of the JF-17 Block III

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First six Greek Rafales delivered

Delivery of the first six Hellenic Air Force (HAF) Dassault Rafales to Greece was completed on January 19

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Achieving Superiority: Modernising the Royal Thai Air Force

The modernisation of the Royal Thai Air Force remains in full swing, but the country’s budgetary crisis – a result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic – continues to hinder the air arm’s fleet renewal effort, as we explain

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How Lockheed Martin is dominating the European fighter market

We report on US defence prime Lockheed Martin's tight grip on Europe's fighter market after the conclusion of Finland’s HX programme and Helsinki’s decision to opt for the F-35

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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