Here Are The 5 Fastest Military Aircraft In Service Today

MiG-25 Foxbat

We Are The Mighty: 5 fastest military aircraft in service today

Every Air Force and Navy feels the need for speed. It's just a fact. When trying to scramble your defending aircraft, time is of the essence and speed is a critical element of that. Aircraft developers have come a very long way since the development of the first jet engine in the mid-20th Century. These days, an airframe that can't cruise at supersonic speeds might as well be a diesel-powered propeller plane.

It was a long and winding road human engineering took to get to the point where fighter aircraft have the radar cross section of bumblebee. Here are the fastest examples currently in service

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WNU Editor:Yup .... those Russian jets are fast.

This Stealth Drone Has No Moving Surfaces at All

BAE Systems

Popular Mechanics: New Stealth Drone Has No Moving Surfaces at All

The result is a lighter, simpler, stealthier airplane harder for radar to detect.

BAE Systems has unveiled a new aircraft design that could be a major advance in stealth technology. The new MAGMA drone does away with aircraft control surfaces, resulting in an aircraft whose shape remains constant throughout its entire flight. The small demonstration aircraft, which has completed a successful first flight, uses blown air to change direction instead of complex mechanical controls.

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WNU Editor: If this can be applied to bigger aircraft, it will revolutionize how planes fly.

Warbirds Of America

WNU Editor: From Theo Spark .... Some remarkable footage. Twelve minutes of WWII aircraft. Pix of beautifully restored aircraft from that era.

A Map That Shows The Distribution of Military Aircraft For Each Country

(Click on Image to Enlarge)

mapchart.net

Jeremy Bender, Business Insider: This Map Shows How Many More Military Aircraft The US Has Than Every Other Country On Earth

WNU Editor: The U.S. does not only have the greatest number of aircraft .... but the quality/avionics is tops in the world. Still .... it makes you wonder if Pentagon concerns on losing their edge in air superiority are justified.

The 5 Most Deadly Attack Aircraft

National Interest: Bombs Away: The 5 Most Deadly Attack Aircraft

WNU Editor: The A-10 and the SU-25 (see the above video) are the best attack aircraft by far.

Top 10 Most Expensive Military Planes (Photo Gallery)

F/A-18 Hornet: $94 million

First entering service in the 1980s, the twin-engine fighter plane was the U.S.'s first strike fighter — an aircraft capable of attacking both ground and aerial targets. It has seen action in Operation Desert Storm and as the aircraft of the Navy's Blue Angels Flight Demonstration Squadron. The F/A-18 is also used by Canada, Australia, Finland, Kuwait, Malaysia, Spain and Switzerland.

WNU Editor: The photo gallery starts here.

Lockheed Martin’s Hybrid Air Vehicle (Video)

2009 Edwards AFB Open House (Photo Gallery)

From Comcast:

Update (Nov 13,'09) - added sound clips for various planes.

Edwards AFB hasn't had an open house event for 3 years, so there was a lot of interest in the 2009 show. Edwards is the main Air Force flight test center for the U.S. with a rich aviation history behind it. One of the more famous exploits there was Chuck Yeager breaking the sound barrier in the X-1. Edwards is also known for being the alternate landing site for the Space Shuttle.

For some reason, I wanted to get there before the gates opened at 7am. In retrospect, it was a darn good thing I did! Even at 6am, there was a line of vehicles waiting to get in. By 7, there was a long line of headlights stretching back on the one lane road from the main entrance. I found out later that as the day wore on, that line would get longer and longer, and it would take some people almost 5 hours before they parked, went through security, got on a bus, and finally make it on base! Needless to say, getting out was really quite nasty as well. The traffic flow and control did not take into account trying to get 250,000 people out at the same time.

However, IF you could get past the traffic situation, you were in for a treat, as there were some fantastic displays and flying to be seen at the Edwards Open House air show. Oh, and it got HOT too. Something about being a desert and all that.

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Hat Tip: Theo Spark

My Comment: The show was last year, but the pictures are cool.

The 6 Most Lethal Aircraft In History

#5. A-10 Thunderbolt II

From Popular Mechanics:

With the help of some aviation experts and warplane veterans, PM took a look back over the history of single-engine planes, fighters, bombers and attack helicopters. We picked six of the most lethal fliers of the past 100 years, based on their dominance during the years they flew. No battle is one-sided, of course: Check out our feature on anti-aircraft missile and countermeasure research here.

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My Comment: This post was done in 2008 .... but it is still relevant today.

Six Nations Building New Carriers

(Photo from Defence-Talk)
(From foreground) USS Nimitz (CVN 68), USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD 6)
and USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74) transit the Gulf of Oman.

From Strategy Page:

All of a sudden, six nations are building aircraft carriers (the U.S., Britain, France, Russia, India and China.) For over half a century, most of the carrier building took place in the United States. Russia built some, without much success, towards the end of the Cold War. Britain and France built a few, and several other nations (like India and Brazil), bought second had British carriers so they could maintain one or two in service.

But now six nations are planning or building new carriers, most of them a bit smaller (about 60,000 tons) than the larger U.S. ones (100,000 tons). Britain recently delayed construction, for a year or two, of its two new carriers, but is still determined to go ahead. France has a new one in the works, as does India. China has been cagey about its carrier plans, but all indications are that it is definitely headed that way. Russian admirals are speaking openly about building four or more additional carriers (Russia already has one of its last Cold War carriers refurbished and in service.) The current global economic recession is delaying, but not cancelling, some of these carrier building plans.

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