The F-14 is one of the most impressive and iconic American military aircraft of all time! On a single day in December 1941, a surprise attack by the Imperial Japanese Navy changed the face of naval warfare forever, marking both the end of the Battleship and the rise of a new era in naval air power. Today’s…

Paris particularly prizes maintaining an independent domestic arms industry and has never seriously considered purchasing F-35s. Here’s What You Need To Remember: As France must wait nearly two decades before a European stealth fighter can enter service, its armed forces are betting that in the interim adding networked sensors and weapons to the Rafale’s superior…

This lightweight, multi-role fighter can be found in air forces throughout the world—and for good reason. When U.S. Air Force Captain Gary “Nordo” North took off as leader of a flight of four F-16s on a December morning in 1992, the Fighting Falcon was already a globally respected—and feared—fighter. By then, more than 2,500 F-16s…

The F-4 Phantom was neither pretty nor elegant. But it did its job when so many other aircraft in history couldn’t. Flying Brick. Lead Sled. Rhino. Double Ugly. If nicknames are destiny, then the F-4 Phantom II fighter was cursed at birth. Even its official name was ironic. “Phantom” evokes an image of stealth and subtlety,…

Just 29,000 pounds of ordnance screaming at twice the speed of sound. On Valentine’s Day 1991, U.S. Air Force Captain Richard “TB” Bennett was at the stick of an F-15 Strike Eagle, a ground attack variant of McDonnell Douglas’s F-15 warplane. Throughout Operation Desert Storm, F-15Cs and F-15Ds would rack up 32 kills against Iraqi planes, but Strike…

For many military watchers, the Sukhoi name is synonymous with the clean flowing lines of the Su-27, Su-30, and Su-35 series of Flanker aircraft or the squat and stubby Su-25 ground attack aircraft. However, during the majority of the Cold War, the swing-wing Su-17 (known as the Su-22 for export) formed the bulk of strike…

Should you venture out to one of the airshows periodically held near Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri, you may be so fortunate to spot one of the world’s most otherworldly aircraft, the manta-like B-2 Spirit stealth bomber. The Spirit’s swept wings measure fifty-two meters across—half the length of a football field—and its cockpit bulges organically…

The F-4 Phantom was neither pretty nor elegant. But it did its job when so many other aircraft in history couldn’t. Flying Brick. Lead Sled. Rhino. Double Ugly. If nicknames are destiny, then the F-4 Phantom II fighter was cursed at birth. Even its official name was ironic. “Phantom” evokes an image of stealth and subtlety,…

The arguments have raged in the back bars of officers clubs for years about which fighter is the greatest. (And many times a pilot’s vote is for the airplane he or she happens to be flying at that time.) But in terms of staying power and mission agility, no other military airplane can match the track record…

The Spitfire was exactly the right airplane at the right time for a Britain at war. But if not for one man, it might never have been built. The silver aircraft, displaying the familiar lines of history’s most legendary fighter, banked to land at the British colony of Singapore on New Year’s Day 1951. Switching off its…