In current military parlance, a strike fighter is a multirole combat aircraft designed to operate both as an attack aircraft and as an air superiority fighter. As a category, it is distinct from fighter-bombers, and is closely related to the concept of interdictor aircraft, although it puts more emphasis on aerial combat capabilities.
Examples of notable contemporary strike fighters are the American McDonnell Douglas F-15E Strike Eagle, Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet and Lockheed F-35 Lightning II, the Russian Sukhoi Su-34, and the Chinese Shenyang J-16.
History Beginning in the 1940s, the term "strike fighter" was occasionally used in navies to refer to fighter aircraft capable of performing air-to-surface strikes, such as the Westland Wyvern, "Aerospace Engineering, Volume 6." Institute of the Aerospace Sciences, 1947. Blackburn Firebrand The Aeroplane: Volume 75, 1948, pp. 395, 436. and Blackburn Firecrest.
The term "light weight tactical strike fighter (LWTSF)" was used to describe the aircraft to meet the December 1953 NATO specification NBMR-1. Amongst the designs submitted to the competition were the Aerfer Sagittario 2, Breguet Br.1001 Taon, Dassault Étendard VI, Fiat G.91 and Sud-Est Baroudeur.
The term entered normal use in the United States Navy"Inside story of the troubled F/A-18." Popular Science, Volume 223, Issue 4, October 1983, p. 99. . Retrieved: 23 December 2011. ´…can fly either as a fighter or an attack plane […] In Navy parlance, it is a strike fighter. by the end of the 1970s, becoming the official"The FY 1981 military programs." Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Volume 36, Issue 6, June 1980, p. 38. . Retrieved: 23 December 2011. description of the new McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet. In 1983, the U.S. Navy even renamed each existing Fighter Attack Squadron to Strike Fighter Squadron to emphasizePolmar 1997, p. 343. the air-to-surface mission (as the "Fighter Attack" designation was confused with the "Fighter" designation, which flew pure air-to-air missions).
This name quickly spread to non-maritime use. When the F-15E Strike Eagle came into service, it was originally called a "dual role fighter",Defence Update (International), Issues 79–84, p. 43. but it instead quickly became known as a "strike fighter".
Joint Strike Fighter
In 1995, the U.S. military's Joint Advanced Strike Technology program changed its name to the Joint Strike Fighter program."Joint Strike Fighter (JSF)." Global security. Retrieved: 2 February 2011. The project consequently resulted in the development of the F-35 Lightning II family of fifth generation multirole fighters to perform ground attack, reconnaissance, and air defense missions with stealth capability.
Modern strike fighters Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet McDonnell Douglas F-15E Strike Eagle Boeing F-15EX Eagle II Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II Sukhoi Su-34 Shenyang J-16
See also Interdictor aircraft Interceptor aircraft Fighter-bomber Attack aircraft Multirole combat aircraft
References
Citations
Bibliography
Polmar, Norman. The Naval Institute Guide to the Ships and Aircraft of the U.S. Fleet. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1997. .