A military aircraft whose design was meant for air-to-air combat role is called a fighter aircraft. The military aircraft designed for attack ground combats is a bomber, due to its role of dropping bombs on ground targets. The main features of a fighter are the high speed, the small dimensions and the maneuverability. There are also fighters with a second role, that of ground-attack and for that they are equipped with bomb devices. Warfare has proved the utility of fighters, those being a key component in achieving victory, especially during World War II. Modern militaries assign important budgets for purchasing, maintaining and training a fighter fleet.

The first ones to show people how humans can conquer air were the Wright brothers. Starting with their demonstration, people have become more and fascinated with flying and their research has developed more sophisticated technologies within the years reaching incredible performance.

The fastest aircrafts are the ones owned by the countries ‘armed forces. It is strongly believed among war specialists and soldiers that the victory of a war can be decided by the air force one of the parts involved detains. This is why over the past years the most advancement in terms of armed force technology were registered within the air force.

The first real fighter monoplane is considered the Fokker E1 made by the Germans which has firing machine guns placed in the front part and with the ability of synchronized firing. Since this model, all the other fighter planes have proved their capacity of dominating the war field.

Nowadays fighter are equipped with turbofan engines, some having two and some only one. The main target acquisition method is by radar. They are also equipped with air-to-air missiles, from a number of two on some smaller fighter to a number of eight or twelve on bigger fighters such as the Boeing F-15 Eagle or the Sukhoi Su-27. They also have a backup armament consisting of cannon (caliber of 20 to 30 mm). As secondary armament they can launch air-to-surfice missiles or bombs, guided and unguided.

I presented furthermore a list of the world’s best jet fighters. It would be unjust to try to choose among them, as they are all unique and very well equipped so to intimidate any possible enemy.