Top Speed Fighter Jet - Before we start, here is a nice video showing you the 10 fastest planes in the world:
There are many aircraft that have exceeded the speed of Mach 2.0. Some of them are research aircraft, some are military, and some simply fly for reconnaissance purposes. But there is always something special about supersonic aircraft. Imagine flying at an altitude of 5 kilometers, hearing a "go" on the radio and pushing back on the throttle as you feel the 100+ kN engine accelerate you to speeds higher than any other life form has ever been seen to do. But you're not the fast one, you're just the passenger. The plane you fly in, the machine that gives you the power to soar above the clouds in minutes, is the true masterpiece. The masterpiece of military engineering. In this article, we will take a look at ten of the fastest military aircraft ever flown and see what they have in their trunks.
Top Speed Fighter Jet
Number 10: Sukhoi Su-27 Flanker. Its top speed of Mach 2.35 brings it to the edge of the USSR's twin-engine craft and the first fly-by-wire control system in a Russian jet aircraft. It was built for air superiority to counter the new American 3.5 generation fighters like the F-15 Eagle. It is armed with a 30 mm gun and 10 external pylons that can accommodate both air-to-air, heat-seeking, short- and medium-range missiles. Because of all its success and popularity, it has many different variants. Some of them are state-of-the-art even today, 35 years after the Flanker's first flight (1977). Some of them are:
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And the Sukhoi Su-27 Flanker was once available for fun passenger flights with ! Read more here.
Number 9: General Dynamics F-111 Aardvark. Number nine on this list is not a fighter but a tactical bomber capable of flying at Mach 2.5. Before it was decommissioned in 1998, it had 9 hardpoints and 2 weapons bays, as well as being capable of delivering a payload of 14,300 kg of bombs, a nuclear bomb, air-to-air missiles or a 2000-round machine gun. However, due to the Aardvarken's role in the air, it was rarely equipped with the weapon. The Aardvark was the first production aircraft to have a variable sweep with the configuration, so it was also tested for carrier-based operations, but this was never implemented (although there were some successful trials).
Number 8: McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle The F-15 has been claimed to be one of the most successful aircraft ever built and is still in service with the US Air Force. The Eagle's twin engine and nearly 1:1 thrust-to-weight ratio can propel the 18,000 kg aircraft to more than 2.5 times the speed of sound. It was introduced in 1976 and will continue to be part of the air force after 2025. Almost 1200 F-15s have been built and it has been exported to Japan, Saudi Arabia and Israel, among others. The current plan is to continue producing them until 2019. It was first designed as an air-superior aircraft, but later the F-15E Strike Eagle, an air-to-ground derivative, was built. The F-15 can load a variety of Sparrow, Sidewinder, 120-AMRAAM, drop bombs (e.g. Mark 84 or 82) or external fuel tanks onto its 11 hardpoints. Coupled with its 20mm Vulcan M61A1 cannon, it's no wonder this buster has over 100 confirmed air combat victories. By the way, many visitors are interested in flying the F-15, so we wrote a small article on this topic. Click the link for more information.
Number 7: Mikoyan MiG-31 Foxbat With a top speed of Mach 2.83, the next aircraft on our list is the Mikoyan Gurevich-31 Foxhound (this was also already available for sightseeing flights!). Due to its huge twin engine with a thrust of 2*152 kN, it was capable of flying at supersonic speeds at both high and low altitudes. It is a Soviet interceptor built to eliminate enemy aircraft and has great capabilities to do so using a combination of active and passive radars. Four Foxhounds can together control a front of 900 kilometers in length. The weapons at your disposal are:
Mcdonnell Douglas F 15 Eagle
Production ended in 1994, but exactly how many MiG-31s were built is unknown, but between 400 and 500 is said to be an educated guess. The MiG-31 is still in service today with the air forces of Russia and Kazakhstan. The MiG-31 is a derivative of the MiG-25, which can be read further down (page 4) and on the link at the end of the article.
Number 6: XB-70 Valkyrie. The XB-70 Valkyrie was a unique aircraft with six engines that together could accelerate the 240,000 kilogram aircraft to a speed of Mach 3. This speed caused the airframe to heat up to 330 °C in some areas. The extreme speed was necessary for two reasons: 1: To accelerate away from the Soviet interceptors and 2: To be able to escape the blast of the atomic bombs it was capable of launching. The large size (weight) was necessary to carry the fuel needed for the 6,900 kilometer flight to the Soviet Union and escape without refueling and to house the 14 nuclear bombs it was capable of carrying. The aircraft had its first flight in 1964 and is now retired, only two were built.
Number 5: Bell X-2 Starbuster. The Starbuster was an American research aircraft that first flew in 1955 and was retired in 1956. It was a continuation of the X-2 program and therefore its area of research was to see how the aircraft behaved when flying at speeds above Mach 2 ,0. . Understandably, it carried no weapons and had a backward-sloping wing that meant it had little drag and was therefore able to reach an impressive speed of Mach 3,196 in 1956. But shortly after this speed the pilot, Milburn G. Apt, made a sharp turn and the plane went out of control. He was unable to regain control of the aircraft and bailed out. Unfortunately, only the escape shuttle's small parachute opened and it hit the ground at too high a speed. This fatal accident ended the Starbuster program.
Number 4: Mikoyan MiG-25 Foxbat. This aircraft was a Soviet machine built to intercept American aircraft during the Cold War, such as the SR-71 and very slow-flying surveillance aircraft. As it was built to intercept the SR-71, it was required to have extreme speed, hence its maximum capability of Mach 3.2. The Foxbat, unlike the Blackbird, had 4 air-to-air missiles, making it an interceptor rather than a reconnaissance aircraft. It has never shot down a Blackbird, but has had many other successful combat missions, for example in the Iran-Iraq war. More than 1100 Foxbats were built between 1964 and 1984, but use today is limited and their only users are Russia, Syria, Algeria and Turkmenistan. For more information about this amazing bird, see the link at the end of the article. The MiG-25 was also the fastest aircraft ever offered for fun flying; it was primarily used for Edge of Space flights.
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Number 3: Lockheed YF-12. This jet was a prototype American interceptor with a maximum speed of Mach 3.35. It was almost similar to the SR-71 Blackbird and featured three air-to-air missiles. The reason it was so similar to the SR-71 was because the SR-71 was based on the YF-12 and also because they both had the same designer, the famous Clarence "Kelly" Johnson. Only 3 YF-12s were built, but the program still entered the history books with its records for "highest speed", "highest altitude" (both later surpassed by the Blackbird) and "larger interceptor".
Number 2: Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird After its introduction in 1966, it has been used by both the USAF and NASA. 32 Sun Blacks were built, all used for reconnaissance and experimental research. It had stealth technology, but if, against all odds, it was detected by enemy forces, it could outrun interceptors or surface-to-air missiles fired at it due to its amazing speed. The solar flare was so fast that the air in front of it did not have time to escape, so it created enormous pressure and increased the temperature. The temperature of the aircraft, which could reach several hundred degrees at altitude, expanded the metal so that it had to be built with too small parts. Because of this, the SR-71 actually leaked oil at idle. Blackbird holds the record for manned air-breathing aircraft, see here. A good documentary about the SR-71 for those who love this aircraft as much as we do:
Number 1: American X-15 This aircraft holds the current world record for the fastest manned aircraft. Its maximum speed was Mach 6.70 (about 7,200 km/h), which it reached on October 3, 1967 thanks to its pilot William J. "Pete" Knight. To be stable
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