Jet Fighters: History and Significance - Speech or Presentation Example

?Jet Fighters: History and Significance The introduction of jet aircraft technology in the military setting has been an important development in the significance of air force doctrines and strategy. Almost all of the aircraft in most of the world’s air forces perform various roles of operation. Within the subject of this discussion, it would be good to understand the significance of contemporary modern air forces by going back to the history of air force development. One should understand first the importance of the air force’s role in military operations and the critical objective in maintaining air superiority. The role of the air force could be divided into the following tasks: interdiction, close support, bombing, reconnaissance and air superiority. Interdiction is the task in which the air force intercepts an aerial target as it is moving towards its destined objective. Close support means the air force will provide lead aerial fire support against opposing ground or sea targets. Reconnaissance is the observation and gathering of enemy presence and movement from a safe distance. Air superiority is the task of securing the airspace of a battle-zone to ensure control of aerial advantages. In the case of air superiority, victory lies in the side that have the better skills and an even a near equal measure of equipment. The only way of getting rid of opposing air superiority is by either having the better pilots and planes, or by having the ground forces have a superior anti-air defense system and weaponry. Fighter jets could make use of either auto-cannons or different kinds of missiles to destroy aerial targets. Auto-cannons are used when aerial combat has become a close ranged dogfight. Missiles are used differently, depending on its kind and size. Some missiles are heat-seeking types which home into any heat signature found in the radar sight. Radar-guided missiles are missiles that are guided to a target based on the direction the radar bore-sight is aimed on. In combat, pilots of fighter jets would either have to maneuver their way from getting shot down, or make use of different countermeasures like flares, chaff or jamming systems, to avert any enemy weapons from hitting them. It should be remembered that the introduction of jet aircrafts, despite being a scientific and engineering endeavor, is a co-related to the arms race of military powers in gaining advantages of air power and superiority. During the First World War, the concept of air warfare was born and put into its early stages of application. While most critics in the military circles that time expressed that aircrafts in warfare will just be relegated to a purely reconnaissance role, a handful of visionary and forward thinking military officers and theorists saw the great potential of aircraft in more combative roles in future wars to come. The latter among the two sides were very much correct. Come the Second World War, the world’s powerful military nations already developed a formal and fundamental doctrine for their air forces. It became apparent to military leaders in the world’s leading nations that control of the air would limit the role of enemy ground and maritime forces since aircrafts literally have the sky as the limits unlike the armies and navies. Germany and Russia developed their air force doctrine to play a close combat support in tandem with their ground forces with respect to combined arms tactics and strategy. The British pursued a more active air superiority and defense role for its aircraft, while developing long range strategic bombing strategies with the Americans later on. The Americans and Japanese developed the basis for naval aviation as they produced aircrafts designed to operate on naval aircraft carriers. As the war dragged on, Germany’s air force also developed into air superiority roles as they switched into a more defensive strategy. As the war prolonged during the Second World War, the nations at war would pour a great deal of effort in trying to get the advantage over their adversary by developing better weapons. By this time, the study of rocketry and the development of the rocket engine have already passed its conceptual phase and have been put into trials on aircraft designs that led to the jet engine technology. The postulate was that jet-powered aircrafts could quickly intercept and outrun the prevalent propeller-piston powered aircrafts of that time. By 1945, the Germans tested this technology for combat purposes by designing and producing the famous Messerchmitt ME-262 Schwalbe, which is considered to be the first true jet-powered fighter plane that saw actual combat in the Second World War. It certainly did fly faster than any piston aircraft the Allied air forces have and had enough firepower to make it a serious threat. Allied pilots would place emphasis in destroying the German jets by attacking them while they were still on the ground. However, it was the lack of resources for supply and maintenance that made the ME-262 unable to achieve any significant gain or recovery for the German war effort. The British also had their own jet powered fighter during the Second World War. The Gloster Meteor saw a brief combat in the Second World War for the British Royal Air Force, and later served in other air forces decades later. The introduction of these aircrafts would herald the age of the jet race among the world’s military superpowers as the modern arms race begins. The end of the Second World War resulted to the rise of Soviet Russia as global superpower, counter-balanced by the combined alliance of the United States and Great Britain. By this time, the Cold War divided Europe between the Eastern European Communist Warsaw Pact led by Russia and the Western European democracies of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). To ensure the strength and defense of their areas, both sides invested large sums of funding and manpower to further develop improve and increase their military power. The air force was given a specific kind of attention since it was also a test-bed for various forms of advance technologies. Jet technology has already become the basis for many warplanes by this time. It should also be noted that during the duration of the Cold War, technology and doctrine of military aviation progressed through leaps and bounds. This can be very evident in the designs and features of Russian, American, British and even French jet warplanes. The first true combat engagement of jet warplanes in history was during the Korean War in the early 1950s. The American military had their F-86 Sabres dog fighting against Russian made MiG-15s piloted by North Korean pilots. In this war, it was usually the case that the American jets had more firepower and climbing speed while the Russian made jets were more maneuverable. Outside the battlefield, American aircrafts were usually made in a more complex process while Russian aircrafts were easier to manufacture. The result would lead to the initial impression that American warplanes can outshoot while the Russian ones can out-swarm. Eventually, many conflicts outside the Warsaw Pact and NATO territories would be the testing and proving grounds for these flying weapons and the technologies associated with them. By the 1960s, the advancement in electronics, communications, and radar technology further improved the design and weaponry of jet warplanes. By this time, jet warplanes were given computerized of digital avionics systems in the cockpit to assist the pilot in controlling the aircraft. The introduction of the guided missile as a warplane’s arsenal was also brought in as new technology to test. Both Soviet Russia and the United States developed heavily on guided missile designs nearly as much on their aircrafts due to the potential game-changer it would be in aerial warfare. The Vietnam War in 1969 tested that potential with US air force F-4 Phantom jets made use of the new Sidewinder and Sparrow missiles against Russian made North Vietnamese MiG-19s and MiG-21s. While the missiles did achieve the task in heat-seeking into enemy planes, those early designs had the tendency to go off mark due to the tropical heat. Also, the use of guns in aerial combat could not be denied when missiles are no longer an option. During the Arab-Israeli Wars of the 1960s and 1970s, Russian made warplanes such as the MiG-23/27 flown by Arab pilots engaged against American and British made planes flown by Israeli pilots. The Russian MiG-23 was considered a reliable yet cheap aircraft, unlike the American F-4 and French Mirage F1 of that time. By this time, the focus of aircraft design was slowly shifting from quantity to quality designs. Western design for jet fighters was already taking the lead on this with the earliest example being the F-4 Phantom for the Americans, the delta wing designed Mirage series of the French and the innovative Vertical Takeoff and Landing jet Harrier. The Russian designs leaned more on the quantity focus by producing aircrafts which could be easily produced and manufactured, for which the Chinese merely copied. However, by the 1970’s, it became apparent to the Russians that they needed to re-think their aircraft designs since the MiG-21s, 23s and even MiG-25s they provided to their allies such as the Arabic countries were being destroyed by far more technologically superior American F-14 Tomcats, F-15 Eagles and F-16 Falcons, which featured advance radar and weapons systems, powerful engines and aerodynamic designs. This led to the Russians change of design focus to jet fighters which were more quality oriented than quantity. By the 1980’s, the Russians introduced the MiG-29 Fulcrum, which completely surprised Western observers due to its competitively advance avionics, a unique radar and tracking system, maneuverable design features and the new Russian Archer missile which could be aimed in tandem with the pilot’s helmet mounted sights. To further the shock and surprise of Western air force analysts, the Russians also introduced the Su-27 Flanker, which is not only composed of the same armaments and avionics of the MiG-29, but also boasts an even better aerodynamic design that outshines even the famed American F-15. The Su-27 also served as the basic design platform for later Russian jet fighter designs from the same company. It is even admitted that the MiG-29 is the Russian rival towards the American F-16 while the Su-27 is the Russian rival for the F-15. This led to something like a panic, or concern, among Western air force officials since they were merely expecting Russians to continue designs based on quantity alone while their American jets and European counterparts such as the Mirage and the Panavia Tornado would easily counter them. It was not until the introduction of the mentioned advance fighter planes from Russia that such was the case. Even the Chinese developed their own fighter jet based on French design, known as the Chengdu J-10, which even rivals the French Mirage on performance. The introduction of the Russian MiG-29 and Su-27 has forced Western aerial warfare analysts to step up and explore further technological advances for their future fighter jets. From the late 1980s and onwards, both Western and Russian designs just continued to develop and advance. The Americans developed stealth technology which would make their aircrafts difficult to detect by radar. This was applied first to their F-117 Nighthawk stealth attacker and B-2 Stealth bomber and, eventually, the Americans developed their current premier stealth fighter jet the F-22 Raptor, and the recent F-35 Lightning jump-jet. The European Union, being a joint project of German, France and Italy with the exception of Great Britain, developed the Eurofighter 2000 as their advance and highly maneuverable fighter jet. The French also developed their own advance fighter aircraft known as the Rafale, while the British remained using their Harrier jump-jets. Western aircraft could be distinguished for being technologically advance when it comes to avionic systems as well as placing and emphasis on stealth. The Russians also did what they could to maintain themselves with a strong air force. While the Western air forces sought to make new aircraft designs with new technologies, the Russians made use of the Su-27 and MiG-29 as the framework of their recent jet fighter developments due to their reliable and enduring design and constantly upgrading and improving such designs. This made the most modern Russian jet fighters like the Su-30, 33, and 35 have superb maneuverability and speed while still being able to carry adequate amount of weaponry. The Russians also developed the MiG-31 Foxhound interceptor, based on the earlier MiG-25 design, which has excellent speed and long range combat capabilities. Recent Russian advance fighter jet prototypes such as the Su-37, 47 and the PAK-FA show the Russian’s continual interest on stealth designs for their aircrafts. Read More