DSEI 2021: BriteCloud set to begin flight trials with US F-16s
Leonardo’s BriteCloud 218 expendable active decoy is quickly progressing towards flight trials with Lockheed Martin F-16C/D Fighting Falcons assigned to the US Air National Guard
Nuclear Defenders: An overview of the French Strategic Air Forces
The French Strategic Air Forces and Nuclear Naval Air Force have served as the backbone of the nation’s nuclear deterrence for more than half a century. We explore the evolution of France’s steadfast atomic protectors and how the capability will be advanced in the coming years.
Lockheed Martin confident in Czech Republic fighter effort
As the Czech Air Force starts to weigh up a possible replacement for its fleet of Saab 14 Gripen C/Ds, Lockheed Martin has revealed that both the F-35 and F-16 Block 70/72 have been offered, with the two-squadron requirement in the region of 18-24 aircraft
F-15E completes first successful maritime JDAM test
Three USAF F-15E Strike Eagles from the 53rd Wing’s 85th Test and Evaluation Squadron ‘Skulls’ at Eglin AFB, Florida, supported a test as part of the Quicksink Joint Capability Technology Demonstration on August 26
IN-DEPTH: Russia's declining Su-27/30 Flanker fleet
The Sukhoi Su-27/30 fleet in Russia is now declining in numbers; even if it is set to continue more or less unchanged in the foreseeable future, as we explain
Qatar's first F-15QA officially rolled out
A formal roll-out ceremony for the Qatar Emiri Air Force's first F-15QA was held at Boeing’s facility in St Louis, Missouri, on August 25
Deadly Raptor: An overview of past and present USAF F-22A ops
A trailblazer from the outset, the Lockheed Martin F-22A Raptor has maintained its reputation as the world’s most capable air superiority fighter. We explore its entry into service through to current operations
31st FW F-16s conduct live-fire exercise in the UK
For the first time in 14 years, the USAF’s 31st Fighter Wing had the opportunity to conduct F-16C Fighting Falcon air-to-air live fire training employment within the US Air Forces in Europe and Air Forces Africa area of responsibility, between July 9-16
60th FS reactivates as second F-35A unit at Eglin AFB
The USAF officially reactivated the 60th Fighter Squadron 'Fighter Crows' at Eglin AFB, Florida, under the 33rd Fighter Wing - a component of the 19th Air Force, Air Education and Training Command - on August 20
Poland deploys F-16s to Iceland for the first time
As part of the NATO Icelandic Air Policing mission, the Polish Air Force has deployed multiple Lockheed Martin F-16C/D-52+ Fighting Falcon multi-role fighters to Iceland for a several-week deployment through September
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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