Poll: Best fighter jet

[cantab]

Boycotting the vote due to the absence of non-US entries. Booooo.

That said, the objective best performer is probably the F-22 anyway. In exercises the Typhoon and Rafale have given it a run for its money in visual range particularly, but the F-22 is more stealthy which should make it a stronger package overall. And the F-35 is inferior to the F-22. Comparison with non-NATO fighters is harder but I'm sceptical the Russians or Chinese have anything better.

My personal favourite, though, has to be the Harrier. Thanks to the elegance of its VTOL system, its proven ability to hold its own against supersonic opponents, and a spot of national pride.

[Bill Phil]

11 hours ago, Benjamin Kerman said:

I would like to throw my opinion in about the F-35. For me, its a plane thats trying to be everything. The F-22 was made for one thing: going fast and shooting other planes down. With the F-35, they are trying to make it be able to do that, drop bombs, have STAL capability... In my opinion, leave the bombing to the bombers, the intercepting to the intercepters, and the strafing to the strafers. Dont try to design a plane to do all of them, because as we have found out, it will be able to do all of them ok, but not nearly as good as spacified planes. 

Another problem is that they're developing three different variants which are quite different, essentially three different aircraft.

 

5 hours ago, memes in space said:

The YF-12 is literally a modified the predecessor to the SR-71 blackbird. Did you even read the first post? But yeah the YF-12 is awesome, just not a fighter jet.

The YF-12 had three air to air missiles. Although it's more an interceptor than a fighter, but then again, the P-80 was so called as a "pursuit" plane...

[XB-70A]

The best fighter never existed. It's a story of harmony between the machine and the Human at the controls. Aircraft are like the others machines, nearly everybody with enough formation could control them but only some have the "thing", making them better than most of the others while flying.

Now if it's about our favorite one, it's hard to take a decision... but I would go for the Grumman F-14s. Since I've seen one of them for real on the JFK deck at 4 years old she stayed in my heart. This size, this mass... and these lines. I never seen an aircraft who gives me again this impression of power mixed with elegance, beautiful and dangerous at the same time.

[RoadRunnerAerospace]

15 hours ago, linuxgurugamer said:

Not a fighter, it was a CIA spy plane.  Unarmed. And about Mack 2.3 or so, not 4

YF-12 was a concept version for a sr71 that was converted into a fighter

[linuxgurugamer]

Actually, according to wikapedia:

The YF-12 was a twin-seat version of the secret single-seat Lockheed A-12 reconnaissance aircraft, which led to the U.S. Air Force's Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird twin-seat reconnaissance variant. 

[SinBad]

where is the f-18? those things are incredibly manouverable.

 

also, last I checked, the air to air combat requirement (the thing that makes it a fighter) for the f-35 had been dropped because it was so horrible at it.

[RoadRunnerAerospace]

35 minutes ago, linuxgurugamer said:

Actually, according to wikapedia:

The YF-12 was a twin-seat version of the secret single-seat Lockheed A-12 reconnaissance aircraft, which led to the U.S. Air Force's Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird twin-seat reconnaissance variant. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_YF-12

[razark]

2 hours ago, linuxgurugamer said:

Actually, according to wikapedia:

The YF-12 was a twin-seat version of the secret single-seat Lockheed A-12 reconnaissance aircraft, which led to the U.S. Air Force's Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird twin-seat reconnaissance variant. 

I like how you cut out the sentence right before that: "The Lockheed YF-12 was an American prototype interceptor aircraft evaluated by the United States Air Force."

Spoiler

 

Anyway, the best jet fighter has to be the XF-85 Goblin.  What other fighter has been designed to carry an entire strategic bomber along with it?

Edited June 21, 2017 by razark

[linuxgurugamer]

Copy and paste on a phone doesn't work too well I'm sorry if I left out a word with you found the importent.

And I hope you are joking about the Goblin it was about the worst thing ever built. Hard to fly unstable Etc

Edited June 21, 2017 by linuxgurugamer

[razark]

7 minutes ago, linuxgurugamer said:

I'm sorry if I left out a word with you found the importent.

No, it was the entire sentence which mentioned it was an interceptor.

 

As for the XF-85, yeah, it wasn't so great, beyond carrying B-29s.

The EF-84 Thunderjet might have been better, but it took two of them to carry a B-29:

[RoadRunnerAerospace]

3 hours ago, razark said:

No, it was the entire sentence which mentioned it was an interceptor.

 

As for the XF-85, yeah, it wasn't so great, beyond carrying B-29s.

The EF-84 Thunderjet might have been better, but it took two of them to carry a B-29:

we did like parasite fighters back then... I love the f-84, just from its looks

Edited June 21, 2017 by FokkerAce

[memes in space]

On 6/20/2017 at 6:59 AM, cantab said:

Boycotting the vote due to the absence of non-US entries. Booooo.

That said, the objective best performer is probably the F-22 anyway. In exercises the Typhoon and Rafale have given it a run for its money in visual range particularly, but the F-22 is more stealthy which should make it a stronger package overall. And the F-35 is inferior to the F-22. Comparison with non-NATO fighters is harder but I'm sceptical the Russians or Chinese have anything better.

My personal favourite, though, has to be the Harrier. Thanks to the elegance of its VTOL system, its proven ability to hold its own against supersonic opponents, and a spot of national pride.

Yeah sorry, forgot about other countries.

Second paragraph is true

Third, the harrier is awesome. I think it was kind of gimmicky but the VTOL thing was cool. Yeah I think in a battle with the F-22 it would lose though. I mean the F-22 has extreme maneuverability.

[pTrevTrevs]

For 4th generation fighters, this is the only acceptable answer

[memes in space]

16 minutes ago, pTrevTrevs said:

For 4th generation fighters, this is the only acceptable answer

Uh lol what? I mean the f-22 is the best (American) fighter ever, period. But in the 4th generation, you have the F-14! The 2nd best (American) fighter! The F-16 is also very good. The F-18 is trash nowhere near as good. I mean of course it does its job, but other fighters are way better. If I had to say it had one redeeming quality that other fighters don't do as well, it is carrier capable.

Edited June 21, 2017 by memes in space

[Sayeret_1711]

My favorite is definitely the F-16, but I also like the Su-34 because of its awesome cockpit. My second favorite aircraft (tied with the F-16) is the Cobra. I know its a helicopter but .

[Kerbinchaser]

No SU-35? No F/A-18? What is this, a joke??? 

 

On 6/20/2017 at 9:59 PM, razark said:

I like how you cut out the sentence right before that: "The Lockheed YF-12 was an American prototype interceptor aircraft evaluated by the United States Air Force."

  Reveal hidden contents

 

Anyway, the best jet fighter has to be the XF-85 Goblin.  What other fighter has been designed to carry an entire strategic bomber along with it?

I built a Goblin once, and i'm building another one.  

Prepare for a B-29 to go along with it as well.  

[ArtemisAZ]

Oh come on people the answer is obvious; The Majestic MiG-21. It's the only only acceptable Planifu and all who disagree are capitalist pigs dirty liars.

 

Also are jets that weren't rolled out into production allowed? The YF-23 deserves some love ya know.

Edited July 14, 2017 by Krulliam

[S4qFBxkFFg]

I'd guess the F22, but as others have said, how do you define "best"?

One-on-one it could probably knock anything else out of the sky, but it would cost the same as 2-and-a-bit F16s.

[memes in space]

1 hour ago, S4qFBxkFFg said:

I'd guess the F22, but as others have said, how do you define "best"?

One-on-one it could probably knock anything else out of the sky, but it would cost the same as 2-and-a-bit F16s.

Yeah but money isn't a concern. Some aircraft are awesome but couldn't be produced because 1 would cost billions.

[Kyle Worden]

I'm torn between the F-15c Eagle and the F/A-18E Super Hornet, both aircraft have significant payload options, great time on station, and proven technology.  The F-15 is the iconic image of American air superiority, but with the Super Hornets new avionics packaging, improved weapons systems, and the ability to be deployed via carrier, it takes my vote.

[Mr. Peabody]

On 6/19/2017 at 6:25 PM, linuxgurugamer said:

The F-35 is a multi-purpose jet it's more than a fighter it's a fighter it's Interceptor it's a bomber it's a ground attack playing the trying to do so much with it and it's intended to replace all of the above listed planes except the dedicated bombers

The F-35 is the best air-to-air fighter except the F-22; and the F-22 is the best air-to-ground fighter except the F-35.

[memes in space]

7 hours ago, The Dunatian said:

The F-35 is the best air-to-air fighter except the F-22; and the F-22 is the best air-to-ground fighter except the F-35.

i mean the fact you're calling the f-35 the best at anything is kind of sad.

[Guest]

On 7/13/2017 at 8:11 PM, Lo Var Lachland said:

No SU-35? No F/A-18? What is this, a joke??? 

 

I built a Goblin once, and i'm building another one.  

Prepare for a B-29 to go along with it as well.  

I HATE the F/A-18. I HATE the Blue Angels. It just looks... old. On the other hand, my favorites are the udefeatable F-15C, classic F-4E, and multirole F-16.

[Kerbinchaser]

40 minutes ago, dundun92 said:

I HATE the F/A-18. I HATE the Blue Angels. It just looks... old. On the other hand, my favorites are the udefeatable F-15C, classic F-4E, and multirole F-16.

Eugh. The F-16 looks HORRIBLE. I like how sleek the F/A-18 is.  

 

[Guest]

2 hours ago, Lo Var Lachland said:

Eugh. The F-16 looks HORRIBLE. I like how sleek the F/A-18 is.  

 

Sleek?!? Looks more like a rhino to me.