Fighters Today

The modern fighter pilot has a comput­erized control system. Not only does it fly the airplane, but it also detects a target and fires missiles long before the pilot can even see the target. A display panel shows the pilot a virtual picture of the combat zone as the airplane “locks on” its guided weapons-all this while flying at twice the speed of sound.

With so much equipment and weaponry to carry, fighter aircraft have

become steadily larger. The F-4 Phantom used in the Vietnam War weighed four times as much as a World War II Mustang, and a modern F-15 is almost ten times heavier. There are a few excep­tions, such as the lighter AV8 Harrier Jump Jet and the F-117 Nighthawk.

Modern fighters include the F-14 Tomcat, a shipboard interceptor, with variable-geometry wings, or swing wings. The aircraft flies well at low speed, with its wings extended, but also has good performance at supersonic speed with its wings swept back. One of the most successful U. S. fighters is the F-16 Fighting Falcon. Sold to a number of countries, this agile, single-seat air­craft is capable of flying at 1,320 miles per hour (2,124 kilometers per hour).

Current frontline fighters, such as the F-15 Eagle, fly at Mach 2.5 and climb to

100,0 feet (30,480 meters). They are armed with cannons and air-to-air missiles and can carry an additional

16,0 pounds (7,264 kilograms) of weapons externally. Like many modern airplanes, the F-15 has had a long life. Design studies began in the late 1960s, the first prototype flew in 1972, and the aircraft saw its first combat in the Gulf War of 1990. The F-15’s replacement is the multi-role F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter, which made its inaugural flight in 2006.

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SEE ALSO:

• Aircraft, Military • Bomber

• Control System • Radar • World

War I • World War II

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