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Over the last two decades, the tremendous technological advancements have influenced and changed almost every feature of our lives. Many of these advancements have resulted out of the research and development carried out by the military personal all over the world. Logically, fighter planes being the centric of defense in any modern air force, there has been a huge change in the design, features and combating performance of fighter planes from what they earlier used to be. So, Let us take a sneak-peak at the 10 fastest military airplanes as compiled by (Credit)
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**10 Su-27 Flanker**
Su-27 flanker, a twin-engine beast has a reputation of being one of the most capable fighters that can perform almost all combat operations. It was the best when it came to combating wars of its time. The Su-27 is still a capable fighter when its up for a challenge. Su-27 was built by Union of Soviet SocialistRepublics and it was proposed as a direct competitor for the United States fourth generation fighter planes. The Flanker, which was designed by the Sukhoi is equipped with 3,530-kilometre (1,910 nmi) range, heavy shielded, sophisticated avionics and high maneuverability capability. The aircraft can reach a maximum speed of Mach 2.35 (1,550 mph, or 2,500 km/h), which is 2.35 times the speed of sound .The plane made its first appearance in May 1977, and officially entered the army service with the Soviet Air Force in 1985. Even now, the flanker remains in military use in Russia, Belarus and Ukraine.
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**9 F-111 Aardvark**
The tactical two seater plane was designed completely for tactical strike functions. It is one of the first F series fighter plane designed by the American aerospace and defense manufacturer General Dynamics in 1960s. The F-111 apart from being a tactical striker performed other roles like strategicbomber, reconnaissance and electronic warfare in its other variants. Aardvark first entered army service with the U.S. Air Force in 1967 with an ability to fly up to speeds of Mach 2.5 (1,650 mph, or 2,655 km/h), or 2.5 times the speed of sound. The F-111 Aardvark was extensively used during the Vietnam War, but was later phased out and replaced with the F-15E Strike Eagle for medium-range strike missions, while the strategic bomber role has been given to the B-1B Lancer.
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**8 F-15 Eagle**
The twin-engine combat plane, F-15 Eagle is an all-weather tactical fighter designed by American aerospace manufacturer and defense contractor McDonnell Douglas. It was professionallydesigned to meet air superiority in times of aerial combats. The F-15 Eagle made its debut in July 1972, and officially entered army service with the U.S. Air Force in 1976. It is among the most successful modern fighter planes to have won more than 100 aerial combat victories without any losses.
The F-15s are easily capable of flying at speeds greater than Mach 2.5 (1,650 mph, or 2,655 km/h), and is known to be one of the most successful planes ever produced in the history. To justify this, the F-15 Eagle is expected to continue its flying service in the U.S. Air Force beyond 2025, and it is still being exported to a number of foreign nations, including Japan, Israel and Saudi Arabia.
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**7 MiG-31 Foxhound**
The MiG-31 Foxhound is a large combating fighter plane, designed to cut off foreign planes at high speeds. The two seater twin-engine supersonic aircraft was made by the Russian Aircraft manufacturer Mikoyan. Its first flight took off in September 1975, and was later introduced into service in theSoviet Air Defense Forces in 1982.
The Russian manufacturer made substantial sacrifices on its design and capability for the sake of achieving high speed, altitude, and rate of climb. With all this modification, the MiG-31 was capable of reaching speeds up to Mach 2.83 (1,860 mph, or 3,000 km/h), and was able to fly at low altitudes. It is still in service in the Russian Air Force and Kazakhstan Air Force.
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**6 XB-70 Valkyrie**
The XB-70Valkyriewas a sample model designed by the North American Aviation. It was the proposed model, which was nuclear-armed highly penetrated strategic bomber for the United States Air Forces Strategic Air Command wing. The Valkyrie achieved its first feet when it clocked Mach 3.02speeds (2,000 mph, or 3,219 km/h), at an altitude of 70,000 feet (21,300 m)
The XB-70s were effectively built and used in supersonic test flights from 1964 to 1969. During that period one of the prototypes was even lost in 1966 after a collision. If you still want to get a glimpse of this beauty, well there is one on display for the public to view at the National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton, Ohio.
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**5 Bell X-2 Starbuster**
The Bell X-2 widely called as Starbuster was a research aircraft built to investigate flight distinctiveness in the Mach 2-3 range. You would be awestruck to hear its sound because the X-2 was a rocket-powered, swept-wing research aircraft. It isbuilt jointly in 1945 by Bell Aircraft Corporation, U.S. Air Force and the National Advisory Committee to explore aerodynamic problems of supersonic flight.
The Bell X-2 was at a prolonged development period due to the advances needed in aerodynamic design, control systems, high-temperature resistant materials that was sought after to be used. It pushed itself to high speeds, altitudes and temperatures beyond any other aircraft at the time.
It flew its first power-driven flight in November 1955. The following year, in September 1956, Captain Milburn Apt was at the helm of controls when the X-2 managed to reach Mach 3.2 speeds (2,094 mph, or 3,370 km/h), at an altitude of 65,000 feet (19,800 m).
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**4 MiG-25 Foxbat**
The supersonic striking aircraft, MiG-25 Foxbat was one among the fastest military aircraft that is known to have entered air force service. It was specially designed by Russian Aircraft manufacturer Mikoyan-Gurevich bureau. The first sample model of the Foxbat took to air in 1964, and later came into air forceservices b by 1970. The MiG-25 is designed to clock high speeds of Mach 2.83 (as even high as Mach 3.2, but at risk of serious damage to the engine). The Foxbat is still at partial service in the Russian Air Force, but is mainly used by other country, that includes the Algerian Air Force and Syrian Air Force.
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**3 Lockheed YF-12**
The Lockheed YF-12 was first of its kind combat aircraft developed by the American aerospace company Lockheed Corporation in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The giant two-seater plane was specially designed to cut off enemy aircrafts at Mach 3 speeds.
The YF-12 made its first appearance in 1963, and recorded a top speed of Mach 3.2 (2,070 mph, or 3,330 km/h) at an altitude of 80,000 feet (24,400 m) higher than other fighter planes. The U.S. Air Force eventuallyabandoned the manufacturing following the cancellation of its successor F-12B. But the YF-12 continued its flying services for many years with the U.S. air force and NASA as research aircraft. In addition to this, the Lockheed Corporation made a number of research flights for the Air Force and NASA until 1978.
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**2 SR-71 Blackbird**
The Lockheed SR-71 which was famously known as Blackbird was an advanced, long-range, Mach 3+ strategic striking aircraft. It was categorized under the black project roof and built by the American aerospace company Lockheed in 1960s.
It was the best when it came to reconnaissance missions. It had the ability to operate at high speeds and altitudes to see of the threats by enemy aircrafts .The twin-engine two-seater was capable to accelerate up to Mach 3.3 (more than 2,200 mph, or 3,540 km/h) at an altitude of 80,000 feet (24,400 m).
SR-71 made its debut flight in December 1964, and was flown in by the U.S. Air Force with special interest. The Blackbirds performance and flying abilities made the plane as one of the greatest achievements in the aviation sector during the Cold War.
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**1 X-15**
The extremely powered X-15 was part of a fleet of X-plane experimental aircraft developed jointly by NASA and the U.S. Air Force in the early 1960s. The X-15 recorded number of speeds and altitude proceedings, by reaching the edge of space (an altitude of more than 62 miles or 100 kilometers) on two separate occasions in 1963. Currently, the X-15 still holds the official world record and remains the fastestever aircraft to achieve those speeds. X-15 is capable of accelerating speeds up to Mach 6.72, which is 6.72 times the speed of sound, or 4,520 mph (7,274 km/h).
The X-15 was phased out in the year 1970, but the aircraft program featured many notable NASA and Air Force test pilots achieving success in their missions. Neil Armstrong, the first person to step a foot on the moon also carried out through this aircraft program.
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