South African Gripens gain new lease-of-life with Saab support contract
Swedish aircraft and defence equipment manufacturer, Saab, has been contracted to provide maintenance services for the South African Air Force’s fleet of JAS 39C/D Gripen multi-role fighters, as the nation seeks to revive its long-dormant combat and defensive capabilities
Second batch of Chengdu J-10CE fighters arrives in Pakistan
A second batch of Chengdu Aircraft Industry Group/Chengdu Aerospace Corporation J-10CE multi-role fighters has been handed over to the Pakistan Air Force, increasing the number delivered to date to 12 aircraft
Switzerland signs procurement contract for 36 F-35As
Swiss plans to acquire a fleet of Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightning II fifth-generation multi-role stealth fighters marked a significant step forward on September 19, when Switzerland’s federal office for defence procurement, armasuisse, announced that the procurement contract for 36 aircraft had been signed
On NATO’s Frontline: Inside Spangdahlem Air Base
The crisis in Afghanistan and the war in the Ukraine has meant that US Forces in Europe’s German centre has become the heart of vital operations. We visited the 52nd Fighter Wing at Spangdahlem Air Base for an update
UK delays full operating capability for F-35B fleet by two years
The UK’s Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning II force has suffered a schedule setback after it was revealed that full operating capability for the fifth-generation multi-role stealth fighter fleet – which was initially planned to be declared in 2023 – has now slipped by two years to 2025
Eurofighter in Focus: Inside Italy's annual Typhoon Flag exercise
As Italy gathers its Typhoons together, we consider how the annual exercise sharpens the fast jet fighting force
Greece takes delivery of first two F-16Vs
During a ceremony at Tanagra Air Base on September 12, the Hellenic Air Force took delivery of its first two fully upgraded F-16V Block 72 Vipers
Bulgaria approves additional F-16 Block 70/72 purchase
The Bulgarian government has approved funding for the purchase of eight additional Lockheed Martin F-16C/D Block 70/72 Fighting Falcons – a sale which was initially cleared by the US State Department in April 2022
How is French Naval Aviation being modernised to meet emerging threats?
The Aéronautique Navale (French Naval Aviation) carries out a wide range of missions from land bases, the FS Charles de Gaulle (R91) aircraft carrier and many support ships. We assess its strengths and how the service is being modernised to meet new and emerging threats
Lightning strikes Belgian F-16BM during training sortie
A Lockheed Martin F-16BM Block 20 (MLU) Fighting Falcon was forced to make a precautionary landing at Ostend-Bruges International Airport after being struck by lightning on September 14
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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