Fighter aircraft

For air to air combat with other aircraft, fighter aircraft, a military aircraft is designed that primarily opposed to a bomber. Fighter aircraft is designed primarily to attack ground targets by dropping bombs. Early fighters were very small and lightly armed by later standards, and were mostly biplanes. Fighter aircrafts are fast, small, and maneuverable. Many fighters have secondary ground attack capabilities, and some are dual roled as fighter bombers.

Modern jet fighter aircraft are predominantly powered by one or two turbofan engines, and are equipped with radar as the primary method of target acquisition. Armament they can also often employ air to surface missiles, as well as guided and unguided bombs consists primarily of air to air missiles, with cannon as backup armament; however.

F14 Tomcat and F15 Eagle are some of the most expensive fighter aircraft and employed as all weather interceptors as well as air superiority combat aircraft, only developing air to ground roles late in their careers. F/A18 Hornet, Multi role fighter aircraft bombers are often less expensive and tasked with ground attack as part of a high low mix, or in the case of the Super Hornet, replacing a range of specialized aircraft types.

Fighter aircraft are the primary means by which armed forces gain air superiority over their opponents in battle. Since at least World War II, achieving and maintaining air superiority has been a key component of victory in warfare, particularly conventional warfare between regular armies. By the end of the war, turbojet engines were already beginning to replace piston engines as the means of propulsion, and increasingly sophisticated refinements to armament were already appearing. As aerial warfare became increasingly important, so did control of the airspace. By World War II, fighter aircrafts were predominantly all metal monoplanes with wing mounted batteries of cannons or machine guns.