Back then, no one ever imagined needing to beam live video to ground troops from a fighter jet. High flying and fast, the F Raptor stealth jet is by far the most lethal fighter America has ever built.
Irvine Kempt I cannot imagine was as keen a fighter as the rest, for he was rather a dignified gentleman with fine manners. The faithful Wolff too, as a graduate of a German university, had been a fighter of duels in his youth.
And the arms of the fighter shall be overcome before his face, and shall be broken: yea, also the prince of the covenant. And naval fleet attack and defense by carrier-borne aircraft proved how a country's military might could be projected globally.
During the Korean conflict and some of the other regional conflicts that occurred prior to it, jet propulsion on military aircraft began to take shape. As the Vietnam conflict progressed into its waning years, America's emphasis on technological advances, pilot training, and improved armament designed to engage multiple enemies simultaneously catapulted the world into what is perceived as the modern age of the fighter aircraft.
In both cases, fighter and attack aircraft are typically one- or two-seated, relatively small compared to its bomber and transport counterparts, and represent a higher thrust to weight ratio making them the fastest category of military aircraft. The role of fighter aircraft can be generalized as that of air superiority. Nutralizing other enemy fighter aircraft, or in the interceptor role to target enemy bombers and being complimented with the increased firepower to destroy these larger targets.
Attack aircraft are equipped to strike ground or naval targets. This might include providing close-air support for friendly troops via the destruction of heavily armored or dug-in enemy forces, elimination of enemy anti-air batteries and radar nutralization, or strategic percision destruction of high-value enemy targets. The first dedicated interceptor squadrons were formed up during World War I in order to defend against attacks by Zeppelins , and later against early fixed-wing long-range bombers.
Prior to the start of the Second World War technology had improved so that it appeared that the interceptor mission would be effectively impossible.
The visual and acoustic detection had a short range and would not give interceptor enough time to climb to altitude before the bombers were already on their targets. This could be addressed through the use of a standing cover of aircraft, but only at enormous cost. The conclusion at the time was that " the bomber will always get through ".
The introduction of radar upset this equation. An F air superiority fighter intercepting a Russian Tu near Alaska. In the s, during the Cold War , a strong interceptor force was crucial for the great powers, as the best means to defend against threat of the unexpected nuclear strike by strategic bombers. Hence for a brief period of time they faced rapid development.
Thus, the doctrine of mutually assured destruction replaced the trend of defense strengthening, and left interceptors with much less strategic justification. Their utility waned as the role became blurred into the role of the heavy air superiority fighters dominant in military thinking at the time.
A Shenyang J-8 interceptor in flight. The interceptor mission is, by its nature, a difficult one. Consider the desire to protect a single target from attack by long-range bombers.
The bombers have the advantage of being able to select the parameters of the mission - attack vector, speed and altitude. As the bombers will ideally be detected at long range from the target, there is an enormous area from which an attack can start. The interceptor must be able to start, launch, climb to altitude, manoeuvre for attack and then attack the bomber before the bomber can cover the distance between detection and deploying its weapons. Intercept aircraft sacrifice capabilities of the air superiority fighter i.
Yet they tend to fare poorly in fighter-to-fighter combat against the same "less capable" designs due to limited maneuverability. In the spectrum of various interceptors, one design approach especially shows sacrifices necessary to achieve decisive benefit in a chosen aspect of performance.
Point defense interceptor is [ citation needed ] the lightweight design, intended to spend most of their time on the ground, located at the defended target, able to launch on demand, climb to altitude, manoeuvre and then attack the bomber in a very short time before the bomber can deploy its weapons.
At the end of Second World War, the Luftwaffe ' s most critical requirement was for interceptors as the Commonwealth and American air forces pounded German targets night and day.
As the bombing effort grew, notably in early , the Luftwaffe introduced a rocket-powered design, the Messerschmitt Me Komet , in the very-short-range interceptor role. The engine allowed about 7 minutes of powered flight, but offered such tremendous performance that they could fly right by the defending fighters. Following the Emergency Fighter Program , the Germans developed even odder designs, such as the Bachem Ba Natter , which launched vertically and thus eliminated the need for an airbase.
In general all these initial German designs proved difficult to operate, often becoming death traps for their pilots, [2] and had little effect on the bombing raids. In the initial stage of Cold War , bombers were expected to attack flying higher and faster, even at transonic speeds. Initial transonic and supersonic fighters had modest internal fuel tanks in their slim fuselages, but a very high fuel consumption. This led fighter prototypes emphasizing acceleration and operational ceiling, with a sacrifice on the loiter time, essentially limiting them to point defense role.
The Soviet and Western trials with zero length launch were also related.
0コメント