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Fighter Aircraft

Air Force doctrine states that the attainment of air superiority is normally one of the first and most important U.S. military goals in a conflict. Without the attainment of air superiority, achieving success in a military campaign is more difficult. Air superiority is the degree of dominance one force possesses over another in the air, governing the extent to which air, ground, and sea forces can achieve campaign objectives.

A primary purpose of fighter aircraft is to destroy other aircraft, either in offensive or defensive modes of operation, or to pose such a compelling threat that enemy air operations are effectively curtailed. Enemy fighters, bombers, patrol and reconnaissance aircraft, as well as ground-support and transport aircraft, are the prey of the fighter. To perform its intended function, the fighter must be able to reach a favorable position for inflicting crippling damage on the enemy. This means that the fighter pilot must first be able to detect the enemy aircraft; the methods of detection employed in the First World War were primarily visual. Thus, the aircraft and pilot's position in it must be designed to provide the widest possible field of view.

Detection means little, however, unless the aircraft possesses the performance and maneuverability necessary to achieve a favorable attack position and provides a steady gun platform together with sufficiently powerful armament to destroy the enemy once a favorable position has been achieved. Some of the performance and maneuverability characteristics of importance are speed in various flight conditions, rate of climb and ceiling, roll rate, turning radius and climb capability while in a turn, and range and endurance.

Sufficient strength must be provided for the aircraft to survive the loads imposed by high g maneuvers at high speed without structural failure. The ability to sustain a certain amount of enemy fire without catastrophic damage is another important attribute of the successful fighter aircraft. Adding to the design challenge is the necessity for maintaining structural weight at a minimum, while at the same time providing the required strength and durability.

Another important ingredient inherent in a successful fighter aircraft is the manner in which it handles. The flying and handling characteristics of aircraft have been under study for over 60 years and continue to be the subject of investigation as new aircraft configurations evolve and new operating ranges of speed and altitude are encountered. Broadly speaking, an aircraft with good handling characteristics must obey the pilot's control inputs precisely, rapidly, and predictably without unwanted excursions or uncontrollable behavior and without excessive physical effort on the part of the pilot. Preferably, the aircraft should possess these desirable characteristics throughout its performance envelope.

These desirable characteristics have not changed very much over the years, although they have been more precisely defined. Also, the operating ranges of speed and altitude have changed, as have the weapons and the methods of detection. No aircraft has ever achieved perfection in all areas in terms of the state of the art available in a given time period. Aircraft design involves a compromise between many conflicting requirements. The successful fighter aircraft incorporates the proper blend of compromises that provides the characteristics necessary to counteract the enemy threat in a particular time period and combat environment.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff, in its assessment of U.S. air superiority capability, divides it into five distinct missions. Two missions involve offensive air superiority operations to defeat enemy fighter aircraft and surface-to-air defenses within enemy territory, and three involve defensive air superiority to protect friendly territory against enemy aircraft, cruise missiles, and theater ballistic missiles.

Control of the atmosphere is achieved by counterair missions, including air-to-air operations by fighter aircraft. Missions that take the initiative to destroy the enemy's ability to operate in the air by attacking systems (or their support systems) designed to operate in the atmosphere are called offensive counterair (OCA). Similarly, defensive counterair (DCA) missions protect against attack from enemy systems that operate in the atmosphere. Strategic air defense is the subset of DCA that defends the homeland from attack by systems operating in the air.

Air control normally is a commander's first campaign priority. Control makes it possible to perform force enhancement missions, especially reconnaissance and surveillance, without unacceptable interference while simultaneously denying the enemy the same opportunity. Control makes possible the air force application role while making it more difficult for enemy air forces to apply firepower against friendly surface forces. Air air control permits friendly surface forces to operate more effectively and denies that advantage to the enemy. The degree of air control is increased by increasing enemy losses to the point the enemy is unable or unwilling to conduct air operations.

Although attacking the enemy in the air may not always be as efficient as other offensive operations, it does offer the opportunity to destroy both enemy platforms and their crews. The extensive time and resources required to produce welltrained crews may make their loss far more important than the loss of aircraft. In addition, loss of personnel is likely to degrade the morale and tactics of surviving crews, allowing this approach to have an effect well beyond the physical destruction it achieves.

And while air superiority missions have many components, and many types of equipment are involved, the acquisition of U.S. fighter aircraft with the capability to defeat enemy fighters and other aircraft is expected to consume about 47 percent of the resources planned for air superiority missions. The Air Force, the Navy, and the Marines all have capabilities to defeat enemy fighters and other aircraft as a part of offensive and defensive air superiority missions using aircraft equipped with air-to-air missiles and guns.

Fighter squadron flight operations usually operate in “go’s”. A go is a time period during which several aircraft launch in rapid succession. That lets maintenance concentrate on 8-14 aircraft and get them operational and flight ready. Those aircraft will all launch within approximately 30-45 minutes of each other.

Beginning in the 1950s, John Boyd was known throughout the U.S. Air Force as "40 Second Boyd" because while flying with the Fighter Weapons School at Nellis he defeated all challengers in air-to-air combat in 40 seconds or less. He later developed the "Aerial Attack Study," which precisely quantified aerial combat for the first time in aviation history.

The document demonstrated that for every possible air-to-air maneuver there is a series of counter maneuvers, and there is a counter to every counter. Following the publication of Boyd's work, when fighter pilots attacked an aerial enemy (or were themselves attacked), they knew every option open to them and their adversary.

Boyd also developed the now-famous "Energy-Maneuverability Theory." This groundbreaking work enabled fighter pilots to evaluate their energy potential at any altitude and in any maneuver, as well as the energy potential of their aerial adversary. The "E-M Theory" forever altered the way air-to-air engagements were fought. Boyd later showed how his theory could be used as an effective tool for designing new fighter aircraft.

At the core of what became known as the "Fighter Mafia," Boyd is now considered the "father" of many of today's highly maneuverable military aircraft, including the F-15, F-16, and F/A-18.

Even after he retired from the Air Force, Boyd continued to do important work for the United States. He developed a theory of "maneuver combat" that is directly responsible for the way the U.S. military fights in warfare to this day. His ideas helped shape the battle plans for the Persian Gulf War in 1991 and strongly affected the plans for Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003.