Fighter aircraft
Fighter aircraft (early on also pursuit aircraft)[a] are military aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat. In military conflict, the role of fighter aircraft is to establish air superiority of the battlespace. Domination of the airspace above a battlefield permits bombers and attack aircraft to engage in tactical and strategic bombing of enemy targets.
"Jetfighter" and "Jet fighter" redirect here. For other uses, see Jet fighter (disambiguation).
The key performance features of a fighter include not only its firepower but also its high speed and maneuverability relative to the target aircraft. The success or failure of a combatant's efforts to gain air superiority hinges on several factors including the skill of its pilots, the tactical soundness of its doctrine for deploying its fighters, and the numbers and performance of those fighters.
Many modern fighter aircraft also have secondary capabilities such as ground attack and some types, such as fighter-bombers, are designed from the outset for dual roles. Other fighter designs are highly specialized while still filling the main air superiority role, and these include the interceptor, heavy fighter, and night fighter.
Air superiority fighter
Fighter-bomber
Heavy fighter
Interceptor
Light fighter
Reconnaissance fighter
List of fighter aircraft
List of United States fighter aircraft
Warbird
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ISBN
Coram, Robert (2002), , Little, Brown, and Company, ISBN 0-316-88146-5
Boyd: The Fighter Pilot Who Changed the Art of War
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Glenny, Misha
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Jane's War at Sea
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ISBN
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Modern Combat Aircraft Design
Lee, John (1942), Fighter Facts and Fallacies, William Morrow and Company
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Shaw, Robert (1985), , Naval Institute Press, ISBN 0-87021-059-9
Fighter Combat: Tactics and Maneuvering
Spick, Mike (1995), , United States Naval Institute, ISBN 0-87021-059-9
Designed for the Kill: The Jet Fighter—Development and Experience
Spick, Mike (1987), An Illustrated Guide to Modern Fighter Combat, Salamander Books Limited, 0-86101-319-0
ISBN
Sprey, Pierre (1982), (PDF), U.S. DoD Contract MDA 903-81-C-0312, archived from the original (PDF) on 27 August 2021, retrieved 2 July 2016
"Comparing the Effectiveness of Air-to-Air Fighters: F-86 to F-18"
Stevenson, James (1993), , Naval Institute Press, ISBN 1-55750-775-9
The Pentagon Paradox: The Development of the F-18 Hornet
Stimson, George (1983), Introduction to Airborne Radar, Hughes Aircraft Company
Stuart, William (1978), Northrop F-5 Case Study in Aircraft Design, Northrop Corp.
Wagner, Raymond (2000), Mustang Designer: Edgar Schmued and the P-51, Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press