5 Deadliest Jets Fighter Aircrafts in the World Essay

Introduction

The race by the world's military powers towards weaponry dominance has led to the creation of powerful jet fighters with Russia, United States of America and China leading the race in the production of advanced weaponry. Airspace dominance in the modern fighter jets is based on the stealth, high maneuverability, weaponry capacity (load), the power of the radar, speed and the range that the aircraft can fly. Fighter jets today are used not only for airspace defense but also to provide ground support by destroying the critical enemy logistics to minimize possible ground fatalities. The precision of the attack also is used as a major indicator of the power of a Jet fighter aircraft. This paper will assess five of the worlds' most deadly jet fighters ever developed and what makes them unique and destructive when used in war.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

The F-22 Raptor

The F-22 Raptor was developed by Boeing and Lockheed Martin. The jet contains a twin engine and a single seat with integrated avionics in the stealth. The jet's integrated avionics allow super maneuverability of the jet. The jet's twin engines are from Whitney F119s and Whitney and allow thrust vectoring. The plane can make stall maneuvers, and high-g turns without stalling. The jet has a large capacity that carries large specific weapon quantities. F-22 Raptor carries medium range AIM-120 AMRAAM and the short-range AIM-9 Sidewinder. The US Air Force inducted F-22 Raptor as a fighter of air-superiority where it later evolved into an aircraft of multi-mission fighter. The jet is mostly used in the US by the US Air Force for various missions such as attack, signals intelligence, reconnaissance, electronic warfare, and surveillance because of its superior platform. F-22 Raptor faces criticism due to its high costs. The aircraft operates at about 68,362 dollars per hour. The fleet requires about forty hours of maintenance in every flight hour. According to statistics, F-22 Raptor has an estimated lifecycle cost of 334million dollars with a unit costs of 150 million dollars (Van Horn & Howard, 657). F-SS Raptor mainly serves the USAF because of its stealth and speed. It has a ferry range of about 2000 miles as its speed. F-22 has a kill ratio of 108: 0 which makes it a deadly weapon. The jet can fire 20mm cannon, and the jet also fires and carries air to ground and air to air weapons such as the GBU 39 and other precision-guided ground bombs. F-22 Raptor exposes the pilots to risks of hypoxia which occurs from lack of oxygen in the bran when flying the aircraft. The hypoxia effects lead to fatal crashes that kill the pilots.

Eurofighter Typhoon

The European countries collaborative military effort led to the creation of the Eurofighter Typhoon which is a fifth generation aircraft that have modern avionics, sensors and equipped with precision-guided weaponry systems. The Eurofighter Typhoon has supercruise capability and has proved to be one of the most reliable fighter jets in all types of climates. The Eurofighter Typhoon has already proved itself as a leader in the fifth generation fighter aircraft in modern combats in Syria, Iraq, and Libya. There are many advantages to be noted in the Eurofighter Typhoon such as an advanced airframe performance, powerful engines, and latest technology which gives the pilots a competitive human-machine interface in the technology and digitization dominated battlefield. The Eurofighter Typhoon has a safety record, subsonic speed capability, reduced drag, reduced radar signature, short take-off and landing as well as durability makes it one of the most preferred jet fighters. The Eurofighter Typhoon uses twin eurojet engines and high-class sensors that gives the pilots high situation awareness to be able to update the big battle picture hence, providing high actionable intelligence. Besides, the Eurofighter Typhoon can fit multiple types of weapons which makes it very versatile and easy to upgrade (Clark).

F-35 Lightning 11

F-35 Lightning 11 was developed by Lockheed Martin in the year 2014. The jet exists as a fifth-generation fighter for America. It replaced the US Air Force F-16 and A-10 Thunderbolt 11. F-35 Lightning 11 cites conventional takeoff and landing that give the USAF power to control the skies regardless of the place and time. The jet is well known for its high-performance, versatile and agile characteristics as a multirole fighter. F-35 Lightning 11 combines unprecedented situational awareness, sensor fusion, and stealth. It consists of an advanced package of sensor that distributes, fuses and gathers information for its operators. F-35 uses the Electro-Optical Distributed Aperture System as its electronic sensor. The sensor ensures day and night pilot vision, aircraft warning and missile warning. Its Electro-Optical Targeting System provides a wide range of precision and detection for the ground targets. The aircraft consists of tactical data links which ensure secured data sharing among the flight members. F-35'S engine contains a three-stage fan, an annular combustor, a two-stage low-pressure turbine, and a six-stage compressor. It is designed for versatile engagement approaches. F-35 carries various air to ground bombs which include cluster munitions, Paveway bomb series, AIM-132 ASRAAM, and AIM-120 AMRAAM. The jet has an air-to-ground combat design which does not allow high speed. The jet moves at a speed of 1.60 Mach with lower maneuverability. It has a climbing rate of 45000 feet per minute (Petrescu et al., 96). F-35 Lightning 11 costs about 91 million dollars. The estimated cost per hour is about 67 000 dollars.

The Sukhoi Su-57

The race for the fifth generation fighter aircraft led to the development of the Sukhoi Su-57 which is a twin-engine (NPO Saturn izdeliye 117) Russian stealth fighter that accommodates one person. The Sukhoi Su-57 is the first Russian fighter jet with stealth capability, and it is designed with other essential features such as the supermaneuverability, supercruise, and stealth and uses an interim powerplant engine design with the future possibility of using an advanced clean sheet engine design which is under development. The aircraft has an estimated lifespan of 35 years and took its first flight on 29th January 2010. The aircraft has a competitive advantage over previous Russian fighter jets designs because it has stealth capability and has advanced avionics because it is fitted with the phased array radar and sensor fusion which increases the jet's fire accuracy. The Sukhoi Su-57 is equipped with thrust vectoring capability which improves its angle of attack and the advanced flight control system combined with the latter makes the Sukhoi Su-57 highly maneuverable and departure resistant giving it a high attack capability. The Sukhoi Su-57 contains two weapon bays located between the engine nacelles a design that helps the aircraft to eliminate drag experienced in jets with external carriages. The plane will be able to carry four beyond visual range missiles in the primary weapon bays and two short-range missiles in the wing root weapon bays. Apart from the missiles, the Sukhoi Su-57 has an internally mounted cannon gun that can be able to fire 1800 rounds per minutes. The weaponry, stealth and maneuverability capabilities make it one of the deadliest aircraft owned by Russia (Rogoway).

The Chengdu J-20

The Chengdu J-20 jet is one of the most powerful jets in the world. The Chinese, its main users, refer to it as the powerful dragon or Weilong. The Chengdu Aerospace Corporation developed the Chengdu J-20 jet in the late 1990s and started its testing in the year 2011. The jet started servicing in the year 2017. Chengdu J-20 has a length of 66.6 feet. It consists of advanced alloy materials. The jet weighs about 32,000kg. It contains inferior engines such as the Chinese WS-10B and the Russian-made AL-31FM2/3. J-20 has excellent stealth on its side and front. It carries up to about six air-to-air missiles especially the long-range missiles and the precision-guided LS-6 bomb. J-20 consists of highly integrated sensor equipment and avionics which feature active electronic and low observable scanned array which allows tracking of multiple targets in all weather conditions. The jet has a high-speed performance of about 2470 kilometers per hour (Tirpak, 40). The jet's internal fuel tank sustains a longer radius of combat of about 1100 km. J-20 jet costs more than 4.4 billion dollars, 30 billion yuan. It cost per aircraft amounts to about 110 million dollars. The frontal stealth of J-20 makes it effective as a long-range interceptor. Its long-range strike enables it to penetrate the air defenses of the enemies and damage critical ground infrastructure. The jet serves in reconnaissance, surveillance, and intelligence.

Conclusion

F-22 Raptor, Eurofighter Typhoon, F-35 lightning 11, Sukhoi Su-57 and Chengdu J-20 form the three deadliest jet fighters globally. They have specific characteristics which distinguish them from the early century jet fighters. Some of the characteristics of recently advanced jet fighters include high-performance airframes, high integrated computer systems which help in networking of different elements, advanced avionics features, low intercept radar probability and computer systems capable for situation awareness.

Works Cited

Clark, Ross. "The Future of Fight and Flight." The Spectator, The Spectator, 12 July 2018, www.spectator.co.uk/2018/07/the-future-of-fight-and-flight/.

Petrescu, Florian Ion, and Relly Victoria Petrescu. Lockheed Martin. BoD-Books on Demand, 2013.

Rogoway, Tyler. "No, The Su-57 Isn't 'Junk:' Six Features We like On Russia's New Fighter." The Drive, 30 Apr. 2018, www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/20434/no-the-su-57-isnt-junk-six-features-we-like-on-russias-new-fighter.

Tirpak, John A. "The sixth-generation fighter." Air Force Magazine 92.10 (2009): 38-42.

Van Horn, Howard J. "Can Simple Models Predict Air Combat Results?." Journal of Aircraft 48.2 (2011): 652-659.