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Fighter Aircraft
Fighters are a type of military aircraft used for air-to-air combat. Ask questions in this category about types of fighters as well as their use in warfare.
966 Questions
How long does it take for a fighter jet to cross the Atlantic?
Many modern fighters can cross the Atlantic in 4 hours or so.
Who flies the F-16 and how do they use it in their missions?
The F-16 is a Multi-role type fighter jet.
The term "multi-role" means that has been designed for and is used for different roles in combat such as air to air combat (Establishing air superiority for example), air to surface combat (such as "Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses" also known as SEAD) and sometimes even Electronic Warfare (EW) such as radar jamming.
In the price-range of roughly $15 to $22 million per unit depending on the variant, it is one of the best, if not the best multi-role fighter jet for most medium-size air forces around the world because of it's relatively easy/low-cost maintenance and ease of operation.
That (and of course a lot of lobbying and pressure-politics) is why the F-16 is such a big success with more than 4,500 units sold worldwide.
The following countries operate F-16's with Italy switching from the F-16 to the more expensive (and advanced) Eurofighter Typhoon (EF-2000).
- Bahrain
- Belgium
- Chile
- Denmark
- Egypt
- Greece
- Indonesia
- Iraq
- Israel
- Jordan
- Morocco
- Netherlands
- Norway
- Oman
- Pakistan
- Poland
- Portugal
- Saudi Arabia
- Republic of China (Taiwan)
- Singapore
- South Korea
- Thailand
- Turkey
- United Arab Emirates
- United States
- Venezuela
Also, the F-16 Fighting Falcon is often simply referred to as "Viper" by the aerospace and military communities because of the way it looks when viewed from the front.
I hope I have sufficiently answered your question.
How far can an FA18 fly without refueling?
In combat readiness status an F/A 18 can fly approximately 1,250 miles. Without weapons it can fly well over 2,000 miles.
How fast can a jet aircraft go?
- conventional jet engines (using a compressor) will operate at speeds up to slightly less than Mach 1
- using an afterburner a conventional jet engine can operate at speeds slightly above Mach 3
- ramjet engines will operate at speeds up to about Mach 5
- scramjet engines can operate at speeds well above Mach 6
A fully loaded A-10 flies at approximately 500 mph. -Note this NOT a fighter aircraft, but a ground assault bomber. The USAF were going to mothball 300 of them, but the current ISIS crisis may bring them into use again.
What is the best wing configuration for supersonic jet aircraft?
Thin airfoil delta wing.
Answer:
There is no "best" configuration. It depends on what the aircraft is required to do.
Take a look at, for example, the wing on an F-104 Starfighter compared to that of Concorde. Each of these have a wing designed to be "best" for the operations that the aircraft is required to perform.
How many guns does a Messerschmitt have?
There were many different Messerschmitts. The most produced and used model was possibly the Bf109-G6 - it had 3 x 20mm cannon and 2 x 13mm machine guns
What was the fastest fighter plane of World War 1?
The Sopwith Camel F.1 (Britain) Its 180 MPH cruising speed made it the fastest of its day. However, there are other considerations as to fastest climb rate and dive speeds. And, at what altitudes was the performance best?
Included is information on other WWI Fighter for comparison: they are listed alphabetically
Albatros D.III Speed: 109 mph
Fokker D.VII (Germany) The engine was one 160-hp Mercedes D III liquid-cooled in-line 6 cylinder. It had good speed, extraordinary rate of climb and its performance at high-altitudes was remarkable. The Fokker D7 was introduced with a BMW engine that gave it the fastest climb rate, 16 min to reach 5000 meters, and the D7 was considered the best fighter plane of WWI.
Fokker Dr.1 Triplane (Germany) The engine, one 110-hp Thulin-built Le Rhone 9J air-cooled 9-cylinder rotary with a speed of 103 mph at 13,123 feet.
Nieuport 17 (France) with an engine of one 110-hp Le Rhone air-cooled rotary, speeds reaching 110 mph at 6,560 ft.
Sopwith Camel F.1 (Britain) Its 180 Km/H cruising speed made it the fastest of its day, When powered by its standard 110-horsepower Rhone rotary engine, the Camel has a maximum combat airspeed of 122 Km/H at sea level. It had one 130-hp Clerget air-colled 9-cylinder rotary engine which allowed speeds of 115 mph at 6,500 feet.
SPAD S.XIII (France) It's engine was one 235-hp Hispano-Suiza liquid-cooled 8-cylinder in-line V with speeds of 119 mph.
R.A.F. S.E.5a (Britain) This aircraft confirmed to be the better fighter plane than the more heavily armed German fighters of that time. With its top speed of 138 mph it could climb as high as 19,500 feet and dive magnificently. The S.E.5a was one of the fastest fighters during WWI.
The above aircraft were some of the best fighters in WW1. However the speed that is listed for some of the above airplanes are incorrect. The values expressed are in Km/H -- KiloMeter per hour---and not MPH.
Another great "scout" plane that was very fast was an Italian design, believe it or not. Italy became a leader in the aviation industry between the wars and set many world records in speed and distance.
The Ansaldo SVA (named for Savoia-Verduzio-Ansaldo) S.V.A. 5 had a speed of 143 MPH. Look it up in Wikipedia; which states it had a speed of 140mph.
Is use of corrective flying spectacles safe during fighter aircraft flying?
Apparently not--the US Air Force doesn't accept anyone with less than 20/20 vision into its flying program.
The US Navy's F-14 Tomcats were involved in two dogfights ( both times against Libyan fighters), in 1981 and 1989.
On August 19, 1981, two F-14s from the aircraft carrier Nimitz operating in the Gulf of Sidra were fired upon by two Soviet -built Libyan Su-22 Fitters, swing-wing ground attack fighters. They were promptly dispatched by the Tomcats.
Then on January 4, 1989, two Tomcats from the USS John F. Kennedy, again operating in the same area, were forced take action against two MiG-23s that turned to intercept them each time they made an evasive maneuver. That ended with both MiG-23s being shot out of the sky.
The remarkable thing that has not been mentioned to date is that both times it was an all swing-wing battle. All three types had variable-geometry wings.
The only other kill by a US Navy Tomcat was during the Gulf War when an F-14 shot down an Mi-8 helicopter.
There is a book written by Tom Cooper and Farzad Bishop named Iranian F-14 Tomcats in combat, where it was claimed that Tomcats shot down about 140 Iraqi warplanes but there is no way to verify this.
Late production Bf109 G6 which was probably the most common, could fly about 390 mph. The Bf 109 G10, a fast reconnaisance fighter could fly at 425 mph. Their Me 262 jet could manage about 540 mph.
What is the nickname for the f14 jet?
The F-14 fighter was known as the "Tomcat" (the final variant of the F-14 [F-14D] was known as the "Super Tomcat")
Which is better eurofighter typhoon or f-22?
The Ef-2000 (Eurofighter 2000) Is the most advanced aircraft out on the market. The EF-2000 relies on BVRW beyond visual range warfare. The EF-2000 uses the simple delta wing configuration which is pretty similar to the mirage and the dassualt raffle. The EF-2000 was made to fly at supercruise AKA able to fly at a sustained speed of or over mach 1 without using an afterburner which drains the fuel dramatically. The Ef-2000 can also be called the typhoon for it's ferosity in battle. The EF-2000 is made up of carbon fibre composites, titanium, aircraft grade aluminium and plastics. The EF-200 is made unstable deliberately to reduce the drag and increase the "agiability". The Ef-2000 carries an X-band pulse doppler radar called the ECR-90 and also carries radar jamming systems. The Engines (my equal favourite part) the EF-2000 is made up of two EJ200 eurojet engines. Each engine is capable to sustain supercruise. each of these engines produce over 60kg newtons and with the afterburner 90kg newtons. The engines of the EF-2000 are also equipped with single crystal turbine blades (which is essential for modern day warfare.) The weaponry (my equal favourite bit) the EF-200 has the BVRW the pilot can engage an aircraft from this system giving it the slight edge over the other aircraft. The EF-2000 carries ten short range missiles and ten medium range missiles. The EF-2000 uses thirteen points which it can carry weaponry, The Ef-2000 also carries a 27mm Gatling gun which all this weaponry can be used and managed by a single monitor which shows the weapon and the status of the ammo heat ect. The EF-2000 Carries a on-board missile warning system which shows the pilot if they have AA missiles after them so they can engage their flares. Another feature the Ef 2000 has is the radar jamming equipment which is handy for the aircraft but not making it into a AWAC. The F-22 is rather simple to explain because it is not a fully stealth jet that avoids radar detection but the F-22 is stealthly enough to make it difficult for the opposing pilot to detect the F-22. The F-22 also has a bomb bay that has all it's weaponry it it (except for it's M61A2 vulcan 20mm rotary canon it the right hand side wing root) and has a hydrolic arm that launches the missile out of the bomb bay in less than 1 second. The answer to this question is that both planes aren't better than each other because the F-22 is an excellent interceptor and the Eurofighter is a great mulit-role fighter.
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The F-22 is not an interceptor, it is an air superiority/dominance fighter.
The answer to your question highly depends on what you mean by "better".
*If you want to bomb the living daylights out of something in a somewhat hostile airspace while defending yourself from a few enemy jets, then a flight of Eurofighter-2000 "Typhoons" is definitely the way to go.
*If you want to remain undetected while quickly and effectively clearing an extremely hostile airspace filled enemy aircraft and SAM sites on the ground, then a flight F-22 "Raptors" is the way to go.
Although the Raptor is capable of carrying and dropping bombs too, it will of course not perform as well as the "Typhoon" because the Raptor is not a multirole fighter. With the F-22, the majority of its combat focus is set for air-to-air engagements and remaining undetected.
If you mean "better" as in putting an F-22 against an EF-2000 in BVR (Beyond Visual Range), then the Raptor will shred the Typhoon into pieces before the typhoon even knew that there was a Raptor in the area. The Raptor can achieve this because of mainly 2 things:
-Defense: It can remain undetected to the EF-2000 in BVR because the Raptor is optimized to remain "invisible" to x-band Radars in BVR, denying most opponents, detection and tracking capabilities. This means that the opponent is denied a firing-solution.
-Offense: Because of its high supercruising speed (Mach 1.8 without afterburners) and high cruising altitude (18 km), coupled with a very advanced AESA radar (AN/APG-77), the Raptor can provide its AIM-120C AMRAAMs with a very good flight-envelope. This means that the AMRAAMs coming out of the F-22's bomb bays will have a high launch velocity and a high launch altitude, giving the missiles much more speed and range and the target less time and speed to survive.
In WVR (Within Visual Range) things get a little more complicated because the F-22 loses its stealth-advantage dramatically and with both jets being extremely agile, I would say a lot will depend on who the better pilot is.
A better comparison IMO would be EF-2000 VS either the F-15E or F-15SE.
IT--
How fast does the propeller on a P51 Mustang spin?
Someone said "2,800 RPM" ... the engine could turn that fast (maybe as fast as 3,000 RPM).
BUT...because every major piston/prop warplane of WWII had a reduction gear feature, with an engine turning 3,000 RPMs, the fastest that a propeller on a Mustang with a Merlin engine would turn was around 1,400 RPMs.
A typical Merlin on a P-51 Mustang had a gear ratio of just below 0.48:1. That meant that for every revolution of the engine's crankshaft, the propeller turned less than 1/2 of a revolution.
In the USAAF designation system of WW2, P meant a Pursuit (or fighter) aircraft. - The '51' meant it was the 51 st type that the air procurement board ordered.
What jet fighters does Israel fly?
Israel has about 400 fighters today, March 2013. Approximately 240 of them are different marks of the F-16 including the F-16i, a special Israel-only version with proprietary upper fuselage-mount fuel tanks to extend their range, some 90 or so F-15, and about 50 F-4 Phantoms in the radar jamming "Wild Weasel" role.
What is the rate of climb of the f-22 raptor?
The rate of climb of the f-22 remains classified, however with a thrust to weight ratio exceeding unity in this class of fighter a safe guess would be >50,000 ft/min.
Do most of the fighter aircraft have crash worthy data recorder such as a black box?
ALL fighter aircraft have an extremely durable data recorder, and in fact, though called a "black box" most are orange.
What is the fastest jet airplane?
Officially, the fastest jet plane ever built is the SR-71 Blackbird, built by Lockheed. It was capable of speeds in excess of 3.5 mach (more than 2,200 miles per hour). It was decommissioned in 1998. No one knows for sure whether a faster plane exists, but many people suspect that the SR-91 -- if it actually exists -- is capable of speeds in 5-mach range.
DependsThe fastest known jet airplane is the SR-71 Blackbird. However faster aircraft have been flown by the U.S. military. But they are rocket powered and experimental which does not fall into your question of the fastest "jet" airplane. Currently the fastest commercial airliner is the Lockheed L-1011 with a listed maximum speed of .95 Mach. However, until it was retired the Concorde was the fastest (supersonic) commercial airliner.
Fastest production business jet class aircraft is the Cessna Citation X (model 750). Its maximum cruise speed is .92 Mach (although it's suspected that the aircraft has flown faster) ...Steve Fossett holds the US continental crossing record in a non-military aircraft with a Citation X in 2003, at an average speed of 726.83 mph.
Manned or Unmanned?The standing manned jet speed record is currently held by the SR-71, as posted. Experimental manned projects may have exceeded that, but have not been announced.
The scram jet is even faster. But the current crop are all small and unmanned. Scram jet engines don't work at less than the speed of sound. They have to be launched from supersonic aircraft or attached to the nose of a rocket booster to get the scram jet up to minimum operating speed. The Boeing X-43, which is NASA's unmanned scram jet project, recently hit 7,546 mph or mach 9.8 in a test run. There is a report that another scram jet neared mach 10, but did so with a gravity assisted dive.
(this is someone different) It is NASA's X-43B. I know because my dad helped make it.
(this is someone different again) Although the X-43B is the fastest airplanes there are other Supersonic and hypersonic airplanes including the XB-70 Valkyrie, Tu-360, and X-15, MiG-25R Foxbat-B, there may be many others but lots are kept unrevealed.
There was also a Rocket Plane Created by NASA that could reach mach 6 (6x the speed of sound)!
Last Time Through For This OneThe answer to the original question is -- the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird reconnaissance aircraft.Estimates of the Blackbird's top speed vary, but its true maximum has never been made public, and may remain in the dark for decades. Credible estimates range from Mach 3.2 to Mach 3.5; I suspect the truth holds an even larger number.
NASA has built a prototype jet that will hit Mach 9.6 - that makes the Lockheed fighter look like a little old lady.
How much did fighter planes cost to produce in the 1920s?
In the 1920's, fighter planes cost about 50,000 per plane to produce. However, some were as expensive as 1.5 million dollars to produce.
The F-5 is a fighter jet built by Northrop during late '50s and early '60s as an export lightweight fighter to U.S allies
