In current military parlance, a strike fighter is a multirole combat aircraft designed to operate both as an attack aircraft and as an air superiority fighter. As a category, it is distinct from fighter-bombers, and is closely related to the concept of interdictor aircraft, although it puts more emphasis on aerial combat capabilities.
Examples of notable contemporary strike fighters are the American McDonnell Douglas F-15E Strike Eagle, Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet and Lockheed F-35 Lightning II, the Russian Sukhoi Su-34, and the Chinese Shenyang J-16.
History
Beginning in the 1940s, the term "strike fighter" was occasionally used in navies to refer to fighter aircraft capable of performing air-to-surface strikes, such as the Westland Wyvern,1 Blackburn Firebrand2 and Blackburn Firecrest.
The term "light weight tactical strike fighter (LWTSF)" was used to describe the aircraft to meet the December 1953 NATO specification NBMR-1.3 Amongst the designs submitted to the competition were the Aerfer Sagittario 2, Breguet Br.1001 Taon, Dassault Étendard VI, Fiat G.91 and Sud-Est Baroudeur.
The term entered normal use in the United States Navy4 by the end of the 1970s, becoming the official5 description of the new McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet. In 1983, the U.S. Navy even renamed each existing Fighter Attack Squadron to Strike Fighter Squadron to emphasize6 the air-to-surface mission (as the "Fighter Attack" designation was confused with the "Fighter" designation, which flew pure air-to-air missions).
This name quickly spread to non-maritime use. When the F-15E Strike Eagle came into service, it was originally called a "dual role fighter",7 but it instead quickly became known as a "strike fighter".
Joint Strike Fighter
In 1995, the U.S. military's Joint Advanced Strike Technology program changed its name to the Joint Strike Fighter program.8 The project consequently resulted in the development of the F-35 Lightning II family of fifth generation multirole fighters to perform ground attack, reconnaissance, and air defense missions with stealth capability.
Modern strike fighters
Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet- McDonnell Douglas F-15E Strike Eagle
- Boeing F-15EX Eagle II
- Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II
Sukhoi Su-34
Shenyang J-16
See also
See also
References
References
Citations
- "Aerospace Engineering, Volume 6." Institute of the Aerospace Sciences, 1947.
- The Aeroplane: Volume 75, 1948, pp. 395, 436.
- Angelucci, Enzo; Matricardi, Paolo (1980). Combat Aircraft 1945–1960. Maidenhead: Sampson Low Guides. p. 273. ISBN 0-562-00136-0.
- "Inside story of the troubled F/A-18." Popular Science, Volume 223, Issue 4, October 1983, p. 99. ISSN 0161-7370. Retrieved: 23 December 2011. ´…can fly either as a fighter or an attack plane […] In Navy parlance, it is a strike fighter.
- "The FY 1981 military programs." Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Volume 36, Issue 6, June 1980, p. 38. ISSN 0096-3402. Retrieved: 23 December 2011.
- Polmar 1997, p. 343.
- Defence Update (International), Issues 79–84, p. 43.
- "Joint Strike Fighter (JSF)." Global security. Retrieved: 2 February 2011.
Bibliography
- Polmar, Norman. The Naval Institute Guide to the Ships and Aircraft of the U.S. Fleet. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1997. ISBN 978-1-59114-685-8.