200
votes
Accepted
Why is the maximum speed of current fighter aircraft lower than those from the 1960's and 1970's?
Speed was life in air combat until the jet age. The pilots who became Air Force generals in the Fifties had learned their trade in the Thirties when speed was the most-desired quality in a fighter. ...
- 228k
104
votes
Accepted
If all fighter jets become stealthy, how will they fight each other in the future? In dogfights?
Table of contents
Future focii
Short answer - Important: stealth, sensors (radar & IR), data fusion, networking, long-range weapons. Unimportant: dogfighting with guns.
Future counter-...
- 3,964
95
votes
Accepted
Why does it take so long to develop modern military jets?
First of all, it took at least five years even back then, but your observation is absolutely correct. You would need to go back one more decade to find a frontline fighter that was designed within ...
- 228k
90
votes
Why does it take so long to develop modern military jets?
There are quite a few reasons for this- technically speaking, the primary one is that the system complexity has increased tremendously. More systems mean more interfaces, more redundancies, meaning ...
- 99.9k
87
votes
Are the guns on a fighter jet fixed or can they be aimed?
They are fixed, and many attempts were made over the years to have an aiming capability - and all failed. That should tell you something.
The earliest aereal combats used indeed handguns which were ...
- 228k
79
votes
How is radar used to help aiming a gun on fighter jets?
F-16 engineer here.
This is from a great article about fire-control radar in fighter jets:
For guns kills, if the aircraft has a radar lock on a target, it can
accurately gauge range to the target, ...
- 1,015
73
votes
Accepted
How could "aggressor" pilots fly foreign aircraft without speaking the language?
A couple of things come to mind that enable this:
you don't become a fighter pilot if you are not intelligent and highly motivated
you are not learning a new skill, just doing what you are already ...
- 26.8k
70
votes
Why is this missile positioned in this odd position? How can it be launched correctly?
You're seeing the Sidewinder on the folded up wingtip of the F-18 that is in the foreground out of frame except for its wing tip and missile sticking up at the bottom. The airplane is between the ...
- 125k
56
votes
Accepted
What is the purpose of the "Mirror-Thing" over the Mig-29 Cockpit?
Additional details to Marco's selected answer.
On the two-seater version, the instructor seat (aft) is not high enough, contrary to other training aircraft, to see the runway. A forward view mirror ...
- 69.8k
54
votes
Accepted
Why do military jets sometimes have elevators in a depressed position when parked?
It generally means that the hydraulic actuator (power control unit) driving the surface has an "idle" facility that allows fluid to move internally between the two sides of the actuator piston, or ...
- 125k
54
votes
Accepted
Why don't combat aircraft have rear-facing *laser* weapons?
Such weapons are not used by countries that abide by the Geneva Convention:
It is prohibited to employ laser weapons specifically designed, as their sole combat function or as one of their combat ...
- 10.5k
53
votes
Is the F-16 cockpit pressurized?
Yes, the cockpit of the F-16 is pressurized. However, there are two types of cabin pressurization:
Isobaric Pressurisation: The system maintains a constant cabin pressure (usually between 2000 and ...
- 576
53
votes
Accepted
How do you win a simulated dogfight/Air-to-Air engagement?
Bear in mind that most of my maneuvering was done from a defensive position due to the aircraft I flew, and that my experience spanned a period 15-30 years ago. But, I have some perspective that may ...
- 24.1k
53
votes
Accepted
Can anyone identify what appears to be a crashed WWII German plane?
It's a P-47 Thunderbolt, the original "razorback" version (not the later ones with the bubble canopy and cut-down rear fuselage). The instant giveaway is the V shaped windshield, which had ...
- 125k
52
votes
Why are fighter pilots seated and not reclined?
Fighter pilots are far more reclined than you might think.
But seat angles are limited by the need for good visibility. Pilots frequently need to look to down-and-sideways, down-and-forward, and ...
- 30.4k
52
votes
Accepted
What is this "No Hand Hold" thing in the P-51 Mustang cockpit?
It is part of the gyroscopic gun sight:
Source: WarRelics Forum
It is not a "hand hold" because you don't want to damage the sight by grabbing the scope to situate yourself in the cockpit (getting ...
- 36k
50
votes
Why is the maximum speed of current fighter aircraft lower than those from the 1960's and 1970's?
Because while speed is one of the important characteristics, it is not the only important characteristic (or today, not the most important one) of a combat aircraft.
One important thing to note is ...
- 99.9k
49
votes
Accepted
Are the guns on a fighter jet fixed or can they be aimed?
The guns of modern fighter jets are fixed to the airframe—they can't be moved in any direction; the pilot has to maneuver the aircraft to bring the guns to bear. The image shows the mounting of ...
- 99.9k
49
votes
What is the rationale for single engine military aircraft?
Because single engine fighters are substantially cheaper to purchase and operate. Exact figures are hard to obtain, but as an example, an F-15 squadron will spend about 25,000 USD per flight hour ...
- 71.9k
46
votes
Accepted
Why are special aircraft used for the carriers in the United States Navy?
It's technical, not political
The F-35 was an attempt to do exactly what you propose, lowering costs by planned sharing of 80% of parts across variants, but it turns out that the USN's F-35C costs ...
- 27.6k
46
votes
Why would an F-35 take off with air brakes behind the cockpit extended?
That is not the air brake, but the cover for the vertical air intake on the F-35B model, which is operated by the RAF.
- 6,948
45
votes
How could "aggressor" pilots fly foreign aircraft without speaking the language?
You don't need to speak(1) fluent(2) Russian(3):
In fact you don't need to speak at all, just understand.
You don't need to be fluent, just understand enough to not crash the plane.
It's not about ...
- 5,655
43
votes
Accepted
Can someone/something other than the pilot trigger the ejection seat?
In a word, yes.
There is a switch which controls this and the default position is "both". If any handle is pulled (pull down over the face or the one between your legs), then both seats ...
- 31.1k
43
votes
Why does it take so long to develop modern military jets?
UPDATE:
I want to clarify/emphasize a few things in my answer.
#1: Ultimately, the core driver of development time is growing complexity.
More advanced threats means more advanced systems, which ...
- 3,964
42
votes
Accepted
What is an afterburner and how long can a jet fly on afterburner?
An afterburner is a secondary combustion system which burns additional fuel downstream of the combustion chamber, to further increase thrust at the expense of much higher fuel consumption.
This is ...
- 22.7k
42
votes
Accepted
Do jet fighters have air conditioning systems?
Yes. Fighter aircraft have air conditioning systems. In general, they are called as Environmental Conditioning Systems (ECS). Their primary functions (as far as cockpit goes) include,
Cockpit ...
- 99.9k
42
votes
Why are fighter pilots seated and not reclined?
The F-16 in fact has a relatively large recline (compared to other fighters). From the main F-16 Wikipedia
The F-16's ACES II zero/zero ejection seat is reclined at an unusual tilt-back angle of 30°...
- 1,862
42
votes
Accepted
What does this hand gesture of fighter jet pilots mean?
It is the signal to perform a fuel check. (Actually: "How much fuel have you?")
The hand mimics drinking from a bottle, and when given by a formation flight lead it is intended to prompt ...
- 24.1k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible