Messerschmitt Me 262

Messerschmitt Me 262

Messerschmitt Me 262 Schwalbe (Swallow) was the world's first jet fighter received mixed support as many influential Luftwaffe officers felt that the approaching conflict could be won by piston-engine aircraft alone. Design work started before World War II began but engine problems prevented the aircraft from attaining operational status with the Luftwaffe until mid-1944. Compared with Allied fighters of its day, including the British jet-powered Gloster Meteor, it was much faster and better armed. One of the most advanced aviation designs in operational use during World War II, the Messerschmitt Me 262 was used in a variety of roles, including light bomber, reconnaissance and even experimental night fighter versions.

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F-117A Nighthawk Stealth Fighter

F-117A Nighthawk Stealth Fighter

F-117A Nighthawk Stealth Fighter is a single-seat, twin-engine stealth ground-attack aircraft formerly operated by the United States Air Force (USAF), it was the world's first operational aircraft designed to exploit low-observable stealth technology. The unique design of the single-seat F-117A Nighthawk Stealth Fighter provides exceptional combat capabilities. About the size of an F-15 Eagle, the twin-engine aircraft is powered by two General Electric F404 turbofan engines and has quadruple redundant fly-by-wire flight controls. Air refuelable, it supports worldwide commitments and adds to the deterrent strength of the U.S. military forces. Its first flight was in 1981, and it achieved initial operating capability status in October 1983. The F-117 was "acknowledged" and revealed to the world in November 1988.

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SR71 Blackbird

SR71 Blackbird

SR71 Blackbird was an advanced, long-range, Mach 3+ strategic reconnaissance aircraft. It was developed as a black project from the Lockheed A-12 reconnaissance aircraft in the 1960s by the Lockheed Skunk Works. Clarence "Kelly" Johnson was responsible for many of the design's innovative concepts.SR-71 was designed as a high-speed high altitude aircraft, providing pre-attack and post-attack reconnaissance. If a surface-to-air missile launch was detected, the standard evasive action was simply to accelerate and outfly the missile.

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Sukhoi S-37 Berkut

The S-37 is a demonstration-experimental aircraft intended to try out new key technological solutions in aerodynamics, flight control systems, and aircraft flight dynamics. The salient feature of this aircraft is its forward-swept wing (FSW) configuration. The choice of this configuration is the result of the Bureau’s efforts to find new approaches to enhancing aircraft aerodynamics, primarily maneuverability.

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A-29 Super Tucano

A-29 Super Tucano

A-29 Super Tucano is a turboprop aircraft designed for light attack, counter insurgency (COIN), close air support, aerial reconnaissance missions in low threat environments, as well as providing pilot training. A-29 Super Tucano can be used for a variety of missions, including light attack, surveillance, interception of air-to-air and counter-insurgency.

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Chinese J-20 Mighty Dragon Fifth Generation Stealth Fighter Aircraft

The J-20 is a single-seat, twin-engine aircraft which appears to be somewhat larger and heavier than the comparable Sukhoi T-50 and Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor. J-20 Mighty Dragon flew for the first time on 11th of January 2011 and it is likely to be ready for induction in the PLAAF by 2017 to 2018.

The production J-20 may incorporate an advanced fly-by-wire (FBW) system fully integrated with the fire-control and the engine systems. Its fire-control radar is expected to be Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA).

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General Dynamics F-111 Aardvark

Perhaps F-111 Aardvark is most famous two crew cockpit module that designed with escape capsule for emergency situations. The General Dynamics F-111 "Aardvark" was a medium-range interdictor and tactical strike aircraft that also filled the roles of strategic bomber, reconnaissance, and electronic warfare in its various versions. First designed the early 1960s by General Dynamics, F-111 Aardvark, although it has a weird name, Aardvark is a widely used strategic bombers in the past.

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AIDC F-CK-1 Ching Kuo

AIDC F-CK-1 Ching Kuo fighters are made in Taiwan with the assistance of the US. The program began when the United States refused to sell F-20 Tigershark and F-16 Fighting Falcon to the Republic of China (Taiwan) after the pressure on the United States from the People's Republic of China (PRC). Taiwan therefore decided to develop its own fighter aircraft. IDF fighter jet project was designed and built by the Aerospace Industrial Development Corporation (AIDC) based in Taichung, Taiwan, with the help of American defense firms.

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KAI KFX

The Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) KFX is a South Korean program to develop an advanced multirole fighter for the Republic of Korea Air Force (ROKAF) and Indonesian Air Force (TNI-AU), spearheaded by South Korea with Indonesia as the primary partner. It is South Korea's second fighter development program following the FA-50.

First announced by South Korean President Kim Dae-Jung at the graduation ceremony of the Air Force Academy in March 2001. South Korea and Indonesia had agreed to cooperate in the production of KFX warplanes in Seoul on July 15, 2010. The initial operational requirements for the KFX program as stated by the ADD (Agency for Defence Development) were to develop a single-seat, twin-engine jet with stealth capabilities beyond either the Dassault Rafale or Eurofighter Typhoon, but still less than the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II. The overall focus of the program is producing a fighter with higher capabilities than a KF-16 class fighter by 2020.

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Sukhoi S-37 Berkut

The S-37 is a demonstration-experimental aircraft intended to try out new key technological solutions in aerodynamics, flight control systems, and aircraft flight dynamics. The salient feature of this aircraft is its forward-swept wing (FSW) configuration. The choice of this configuration is the result of the Bureau’s efforts to find new approaches to enhancing aircraft aerodynamics, primarily maneuverability.

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Sukhoi Su-37 Terminator

Sukhoi Su-37 is a Russian experimental multirole jet fighter aircraft. It's a single-seat aircraft, all-weather fighter and ground attack prototype aircraft, derived from the Su-27. The Su-37 includes several updates over the Su-27, including all-weather multi-mode passive electronically scanned array radar with synthetic aperture, terrain avoidance, terrain mapping radar. The airframe includes a percentage of parts made from composites, unlike the all-metal Su-27. Additionally, the Su-37 incorporates the AL-37FU engines equipped with thrust vectoring. The Su-37’s nozzles are variable in pitch and travel plus or minus 15 degrees. It can carry air-to-air and air-to-surface weapons on 12 stations.

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Sukhoi Su-35

The Sukhoi Su-35 (NATO reporting name: Flanker-E) is a Russian heavy, long-range, one-seat multirole fighter. Developed from the original Su-27 air superiority fighter, it was originally designated Su-27M and later renamed Su-35 by Sukhoi. Due to the similar features and components it contains, the Su-35 is considered a close cousin of the Sukhoi Su-30MKI, a modernized Su-30 variant for India. The Su-35 is a 4++ generation aircraft employing technologies of the fifth generation. They make it superior to all other 4th generation fighters now under development worldwide. In 2009-2015, thanks to these technologies, the Su-35 will dominate the world market, outperforming other proposed multi-role fighters.

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F-16 Fighting Falcon

The F-16 Fighting Falcon is single-engined, supersonic, multi-role tactical jet fighter aircraft originally developed by General Dynamics for the United States Air Force (USAF). Designed as a lightweight day fighter, it evolved into a successful all-weather multirole aircraft. Over 4,400 aircraft have been built since production was approved in 1976. Though no longer being purchased by the U.S. Air Force, improved versions are still being built for export customers. In 1993, F-16 Fighting Falcon sold its aircraft manufacturing business to the Lockheed Corporation, which in turn became part of Lockheed Martin after a 1995 merger with Martin Marietta. More than 4,400 F-16s have been produced for 25 countries with 53 follow-on buys by 14 customers.

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The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II

The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II, also known as the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) is being developed by Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company for the US Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps and the UK Royal Navy. The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II is a family of single-seat, single-engine, fifth generation multirole fighters under development to perform ground attack, reconnaissance, and air defense missions with stealth capability. The F-35 has three main models; one is a conventional takeoff and landing variant, the second is a short take off and vertical-landing variant, and the third is a carrier-based variant.

George Standridge of Lockheed Martin has said that the F-35 will be four times more effective than legacy fighters in air-to-air combat, eight times more effective than legacy fighters in air-to-ground combat, and three times more effective than legacy fighters in reconnaissance and suppression of air defenses – while having better range and requiring less logistics support and having around the same procurement costs (if development costs are ignored) as legacy fighters. Further, the design goals call for the F-35 to be the premier strike aircraft through 2040 and be second only to the F-22 in air superiority.

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Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23

Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23 is a variable-geometry fighter aircraft, designed by the Mikoyan-Gurevich bureau in the Soviet Union. It is considered to belong to the Soviet third generation jet fighter category, along with similar-aged Russian-produced fighters such as the MiG-25 "Foxbat". It was the first attempt by the Soviet Union to design look-down/shoot-down radar and one of the first to be armed with beyond visual range missiles, and the first MiG production fighter plane to have intakes at the sides of the fuselage. Production started in 1970 and reached large numbers with over 5,000 aircraft built. Today the MiG-23 remains in limited service with various export customers.

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McDonnell Douglas F-15E Strike Eagle

The F-15E is a fighter-bomber aircraft designed to replace the F-111 Aardvark as the USAF's strike fighter (another name for fighter-bomber). It's was developed by McDonnell Douglas (now Boeing). The F-15E was designed in the 1980s for long-range, high speed interdiction without relying on escort or electronic warfare aircraft. It is a major derivative of the McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle air superiority fighter. United States Air Force F-15E Strike Eagles can be distinguished from other U.S. Eagle variants by darker camouflage and conformal fuel tanks mounted along the engine intakes.

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Eurofighter Typhoon

One of the jet fighters that dominate air attack is Eurofighter Typhoon. The Eurofighter Typhoon is a twin-engine, canard-delta wing, multirole combat aircraft, designed and built by a consortium of three companies: Alenia Aeronautica, BAE Systems, and EADS. The Typhoon features lightweight construction (82% composites consisting of 70% carbon fibre composites and 12% glass reinforced composites) with an estimated lifespan of 6000 flying hours. The fighter achieves high agility at both supersonic and low speeds by having a relaxed stability design. It has a quadruplex digital fly-by-wire control system providing artificial stability, as manual operation alone could not compensate for the inherent instability. The fly-by-wire system is described as "carefree" by preventing the pilot from exceeding the permitted manoeuvre envelope.

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F-22 Raptor

F-22 Raptor is a stealth fighter made by the United States. It was originally envisioned as air superiority fighter for use against Soviet aircraft, but the aircraft is equipped for ground attack, electronic warfare and signals intelligence. This aircraft through a long development period, prototype version was named YF-22, three years before it was officially adopted was named F/A-22, and eventually was named the F-22A when it officially came into use in December 2005. Lockheed Martin Aeronautics is the prime contractor is responsible for the majority of the airframe, weapons, and assembling the F-22. Then his partner, Boeing Integrated Defense Systems provides the wings, avionics equipment, and pilot and maintenance training.

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RQ-4 Global Hawk

RQ-4 Global Hawk is an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) made by American. In role and operational design, the Global Hawk is similar to the Lockheed U-2, the venerable 1950s spy plane. It is a theater commander's asset to provide a broad overview and systematic target surveillance. For this purpose, the Global Hawk is able to provide high resolution Synthetic Aperture Radar  (SAR)—that can penetrate cloud-cover and sandstorms and Electro-Optical/Infrared (EO/IR) imagery at long range with long loiter times over target areas. It can survey as much as 40,000 square miles (100,000 square kilometers) of terrain a day.

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Sukhoi Su-27

The Su-27 most often flies air superiority missions, but is able to perform almost all combat operations. Complementing the smaller MiG-29, the Su-27's closest US counterpart is the F-15 Eagle.

The Su-27 airframe was manufactured using an integral configuration with the wing and fuselage forming a single aerodynamically lifted frame. Its longitudinal sections in the form of the wing airfoil ensure high aerodynamic efficiency and high lift coefficient while manoeuvring. To increase the aircraft manoeuvrability, it is designed statically unstable with artificial stability provided by the remote control system. The fighter is fitted with the analogue quad-redundant fly-by-wire system. The wings are mid-mounted and semi-delta with square tips. The wing has drooping leading edges and flaperons. The Leading-Edge Root Extension (LERX) extends downward and forward of the wing roots. The vertical tail is twin-finned with rudders. The horizontal tail is a differential tailplane and consists of two all-moving outer wings. The tail fins are swept-back, tapered with square tips, and mounted outboard of the engines. The flats are mid-mounted, swept-back, and tapered.

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