Air superiority fighter
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An air superiority fighter (also styled air-superiority fighter)
Evolution of the term
During
The first air-superiority fighters
After lessons learned from combat experiences involving modern military air capacity, the U.S. Navy's
By contrast, the Soviets (and the succeeding Russian Federation) developed and continue to operate separate types of aircraft, the interceptor MiG-31 and the short-range MiG-29 for air superiority, although the long-range Su-27 can combine the roles of air superiority and interceptor.
Evolution of secondary ground-attack capability
For the US Navy, the F-14 Tomcat was initially deployed solely as an air-superiority fighter, as well as fleet defense interceptor and tactical aerial reconnaissance. By contrast, the multirole F/A-18 Hornet was designed as strike fighter while having only enough of an edge to defend itself against enemy fighters if needed. While the F-14 had an undeveloped secondary ground attack capability (with a Stores Management System (SMS) that included air-to-ground options as well as rudimentary software in the AWG-9), the Navy did not want to risk it in the air-to-ground role at the time, due to its lack of proper defensive electronic countermeasures (DECM) and radar homing and warning (RHAW) for overland operations, as well as the fighter's high cost. In the 1990s, the US Navy added LANTIRN pods to its F-14s and deployed them on precision ground-attack missions.[5]
The
Since the 1990s, with air-superiority fighters such as the F-14 and F-15 pressed into the strike role and/or having a strike derivative, the lines between air-superiority fighters and multirole fighters has blurred somewhat. The F-22 Raptor, designed primarily as an air superiority fighter, would receive precision strike capabilities through mission system upgrades. Similarly the MiG-29 and Su-27, despite originally designed for air superiority, have been commonly outfitted to use a range of air-to-surface armaments which would make them multirole fighters, indeed the Su-34 strike fighter has been derived from the Su-27.
With the retirement of the F-14 Tomcat, the US Navy has pressed its
List of active air-superiority fighters
Country | Manufacturer | Aircraft | Introduced |
---|---|---|---|
United States | McDonnell Douglas | F-15 Eagle | 1976 |
Japan | Mitsubishi Heavy Industries | F-15J | 1981 |
Soviet Union/Russia | Sukhoi | Su-27 | 1985 |
Soviet Union/Russia | Sukhoi | Su-30 | 1996 |
Soviet Union/Russia | Sukhoi | Su-33 | 1998 |
China | Shenyang Aerospace | J-11 | 1998 |
France | Dassault Aviation | Dassault Rafale | 2001 |
India | Hindustan Aeronautics Limited | Su-30 MKI | 2002 |
Germany/Italy/Spain/U.K. | Eurofighter | Typhoon | 2003 |
United States | Lockheed Martin | F-22 Raptor | 2005 |
China | Chengdu Aerospace
|
J-20 | 2017 |
Malaysia | Sukhoi | Su-30 MKM
|
2007 |
See also
Notes
- ISBN 978-0-19-989158-0.
- ISBN 978-1-84176-730-7.
- ISBN 0-668-06406-4.
- ISBN 0-88740-664-5.
- ^ "F-14 Tomcat fighter fact file." Archived 2006-04-02 at the Wayback Machine United States Navy, 5 July 2003. Retrieved: 20 January 2007.
- ^ Hallion, Dr. Richard P. "A Troubling Past: Air Force Fighter Acquisition since 1945." Archived 2016-10-25 at the Wayback Machine Airpower Journal, Winter 1990. Retrieved: 1 September 2011.
- ^ Jenkins 1998, pp. 35–36.
- ^ "Lockheed Martin to deliver 4,500th F-16 fighter". McClatchy DC. 2012-04-02. Retrieved 13 September 2014.
- ^ "Brown: NGAD Will be a Multirole Fighter". 16 June 2021.