Air superiority plays a very important role in any modern conflict.
Hence, fighter jets are a crucial asset for any country that wants to defend its sky from
external threats or take the fight to its rivals.
Speed has been one of the key aspects of any fighter jet.
From the advent of military air combat, engineers are trying to design fighter jets that can
go after and faster.
Modern fighter jets, can reach astounding speeds and cover vast distances in a matter
of minutes.
This makes them tactically invaluable for military strategists.
In this video Defense Updates lists top 10 fastest jet fighters in the world sequenced
in ascending order of their speed.
Let's get started
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The Chengdu J-10 is Chinese multirole combat aircraft designed by the Chengdu Aircraft
Corporation of China.
It is currently the fastest jet produced by China and People‘s Liberation Army Air Force
is its primary user.
J 10 was designed in response to the introduction of MiG-29 & Su-27 by the Soviet Union and
deployment of F-15 & F-16 by the United States.
It was initially supposed to be an air superiority fighter but design changes were made to give
it multirole capabilities.
Work on the jet started in 1988 and was flown for the first time in 1998.
The jet was introduced in 2006 and are is still in service with more than 400 of these
build over the years.
The Mirage 2000 is a multirole fighter jet developed by Dassault Aviation of France.
Works on it started in the mid 1970s, the first test flight was done in 1978.
French Air Force received its first Mirage 2000s in1984.
The Mirage 2000 came into existence after the French government decided to withdraw
from the Panavia Tornado fighter program which had the backing of Germany, Italy and United
Kingdom and instead decided to pursue its own fighter jet development.
Mirage 2000 ultimately became one of the most well designed multirole fighters and more
than 600 of these were built.
It is in service with many countries in the world as of now and has seen several mid-life
upgrades.
Sukhoi 57 also known as Pak FA or T 50 is the first 5th generation jet fighter to be
developed by Russia.
The fighter jet is a direct competitor to American F 22 Raptor & F 35 Lightning II.
Its first flight took place on 29 January 2010.
Though the Russian Air Force was supposed to receive the fighter earlier, it ultimately
got them in 2018.
The delay mainly occurred due to the funding problem and engine development issues.
The Su 57 program had India’s financial backing but India later pulled out due to
requirement mismatch.
The fighter saw limited combat deployment in Syria.
Currently, it is still being optimized and several issues are being sorted out like engine reliability.
Typhoon is a twin-engine multirole fighter manufactured by a consortium of Airbus, BAE
Systems and Leonardo which formed a joint holding company Eurofighter Jagdflugzeug GmbH
in 1986.
It has the backing of the UK, Germany, France, Italy, and Spain.
Initially, France was also part of the venture but later left due to a dispute over operational
requirements and design principals.
The first flight of the jet took place on 27 March 1994 and it entered service in 2003.
The typhoon was designed as an air superiority fighter and is considered to be one of the
most agile jet fighters in the world.
Several enhancements to the jet has made it a more capable multirole fighter with the
ability to carry out complex ground attack missions.
Typhoon's first saw action when it was used for air strikes on Libya in 2011.
The F-22 Raptor was the first 5th generation jet fighter in the world.
F 22 was developed by Lockheed Martin for the United States Air Force and is an air
superiority fighter though it is also capable of air to ground attack missions.
In 1991, YF-22 Lockheed’s early prototype of the F-22 won the competition against McDonnell
Douglas’ YF-23.
It entered service with the United States Air Force in 2005.
After Lockheed built 195 aircraft -187 production models and 8 test aircraft, the program was
canceled.
The fighter is no longer produced due to lack of enemies sited at that time, high cost and
development of F-35.
It is to be noted that even today, F 22 cannot be exported to any other country as per American
federal Law.
Though F 22 is not even close to topping this list, it is to be noted that it is capable
of super-cruise at Mach 1.8 which is more than any other fighter.
Supercruise is the ability to have sustained supersonic flight without having to use the
highly inefficient afterburners.
With this, F 22 can intercept targets which subsonic aircraft would lack the speed to
pursue and an afterburner-dependent aircraft would lack the fuel to reach.
In 1969, Soviet intelligence got the know about the impending introduction of a new
fighter by America, which was F 15.
They realized that the fighters in their arsenal won’t be able to tackle the new American
jet and hence wanted to have a solution for this threat.
To meet the challenge they decided to pursue two fighters - a lightweight one which came
to be known as the MiG-29 and a heavy fighter which was the Su-27.
The Sukhoi Su 27 was designed in the 1970s by Sukhoi design bureau and it first flew
in 1977.
Due to numerous design changes and issue, the fighter was delayed and was introduced
to the Soviet Air Force in 1985.
It was well taken by pilots and become one of the most successful jet coming out from
the Soviet Union.
Sukhoi has built over 800 of these jets and several countries have bought them and using them as of now.
During the Vietnam War, U.S military realized that it needed a lightweight agile jet for
air or air combat when faced by Soviet jets which were more suited for that kind of role.
After requirements were finalized and the competition was held, United States Air Force
chose McDonnell Douglas to manufacture the fighter which was named F 15.
F 15 was tested for the first time in in 1972 and American Air Force got them in 1976.
But the jet never saw combat in the Vietnam War as it was too late for it, the war had
ended in 1975.
Nevertheless, it became a very successful fighter with more than 1,200 being manufactured
and many countries buying it.
The F 15 Strike Eagle is derived from F-15 Eagle.
Unlike the F-15 Eagle which was designed for air superiority, F 15 Strike Eagle was designed
to be a multirole fighter.
F 15 Strike Eagle added air to ground strike capability which was not present in F 15 Strike
Eagle apart from various other improvements.
The Strike Eagle was not intended to replace the Eagle but was meant to replace the F-111.
F 15 Strike Eagle was pitted against the General Dynamics F-16XL design for the contract and
it won after a thorough evaluation was conducted between 1981 to 1983.
In 1986, it was tested for the first time and United States Air Force received the first
fighter jets in1988.
MiG-31 designated as “Foxhound” by NATO was designed by Mikoyan design bureau during
the Cold War era.
It’s an interceptor aircraft that was built to replace the aging MiG-25.
Designed to defend Soviet airspace from enemy jets, its basic design philosophy was same
as MiG-25 and MiG-31 used many features and design elements from MiG-25.
The test flights of the jet started in 1975.
The production of MiG-31s began in 1979 and the Soviet Air Defence Force introduced them
into service in 1981.
Several important additions included better avionic and deployment of phased array radar
system - a first for any fighter jet in the world.
The top speed reduced a bit when compared to MiG-25 but it gained significantly when
it came to maneuverability, which made it a better overall fighter jet.
During the Cold War period, the Soviet Union needed a fighter that could defend its vast
air apace from NATO fighters & bombers.
The MiG 25, designated as Foxbat by NATO was designed to fulfill that need.
MiG 25 was an interceptor with a secondary role of reconnaissance aircraft.
It was supposed to be scrambled into action if enemy jets were detected above the Soviet
air space.
This is why great importance was given to speed and unlike other Soviet jets, maneuverability
took back seat when the fighter was envisioned.
It was the last aircraft designed by Mikhail Gurevich.
The MiG-25 was first tested in 1964.
After initial testing, the fighter entered service in 1970.
It saw production from 1964 to 1984 when more than 1150 fighters were manufactured.
The jet has seen many upgrades over the years and is still in limited service with several
countries including the Russian Air Force.