Fastest fighter jet

Answer 1

The fastest fighter jets in service (or ever used in service) are the MiG 31 "foxhound" or the MiG 25 "foxbat", which do look very similar. people get confused and call the SR-71 the fastest jet FIGHTER, when it is not a fighter plane, it is actually a surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft (that's what the "SR" stands for).

Answer 2

Okay, it’s 2021 and historically, the fastest weapons-carrying jet ever was a prototype, the YF-12A, in 1963. It carried three AIM-47 air to air missiles with a 110 mile range and an active radar seeker with the option of a small atomic warhead in the 1.5-2.0 kiloton range( the missile evolved into the AIM-54 Phoenix used on the F-14 later.)

The YF-12A was designed to climb to above 80,000 feet and accelerate to M3.2+, fly over the pole and shoot down Soviet bombers as they scrambled. The YF -12 would do this from 80,000 feet and 150+miles away at launch. It actually detected and shot down a B-47 drone sea level from 80,000 feet 120 miles away while flying at 2,000 mph.Top speed/Altitude was 3.35Mach at 90,000 feet.The CIA developed it into the A-12 and the USAF into the SR-71. The fastest weapons-carrying Mig was the Mig-25 at M2.9-without weapons or pylons it could scrape M3.2 for about 20 minutes, but it’s engines would be wrecked and would need replacing after the flight. The recon version had similar problems but the engines were good for about 10 flights that got past M3.

The fastest fighter today is the Mig-25/31, M2.8, followed by a lightly-armed F-15c/e with only 4 AIM 120C/D Slammers on the fuselage (no wing weapons or external tanks) at M2.7.

No dogfight has ever gotten above M1.6, which is basically as fast as you can dogfight without turning over half a country. That’s why most fighter aircraft are optimized for air-to-air combat at M.7-M1.3. Hence the M1.6 top speed for the F-35 and F-18E/F-and why the U.S. still trains against F-5E (M1.6) and Hawker Hunters(M.95).