Military Heat

Over the skies of North Korea some of the most intense jet dogfights took place between USAF pilots and their F-86 Sabres and North Korean and Russian pilots flying the MiG-15 “Fagot”. This is the story of the first dogfight between the two rival aircraft. See pilot Bruce Hinton claim first blood for the F-86 Sabre. (Read more…)

The Dassault Rafale is the latest generation multi-role fighter produced by the French company Dassault Aviation. The Rafale is a twin-engined delta wing 4.5th generation fighter similar in concept to the Eurofighter Typhoon, that entered service with the French Air Force ( Armee de l’Air ) and the French Navy ( Marine Nationale ).

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Soon after World War II, one of the most amazing jet fighters was conceived for the US Air Force: the McDonell XF-85 Goblin, known as the “Flying Egg” because of its very small size ( only 4.5 meters in length ) and rotund appearance. The XF-85 Goblin was designed to be carried inside the bomb bays of giant strategic bombers and deployed in case of enemy attack. The giant Convair B-36 strategic bomber was to play the role of mothership for this little parasite aircraft. (Read more…)

The Dassault Mirage 2000 is a highly successful multirole combat jet fighter manufactured by Dassault Aviation of France. The Mirage 2000 has been in service with the French Air Force ( Armee de l’Air ) since 1984 and eight more countries have Mirage 2000 fighters in service. There is no doubt the Mirage 2000 is an elegant airplane, with the delta wing configuration and lack of tail planes. Among other things the Mirage 2000 was the first aerodynamically unstable fighter jet with full fly-by-wire and a couple of years ago reached movie stardom level in the French production ” Les Chevaliers du Ciel” ( Knights of the Sky ) aka ” Skyfighters”. (Read more…)

The Saab JAS 39 Gripen is the first new-generation multi-role/swing-role fighter to enter service worldwide and combines high performance, outstanding maneuverability and fully integrated information and weapons systems for all air combat situations.
Offering an unrivaled mix of simplicity and sophistication to defeat all present and future threats, it is the world’s most capable and cost-effective combat aircraft in operation today. (Read more…)

The Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet is a larger and more advanced variant of the F/A-18C/D Hornet. The Super Hornet is 20% larger, 7,000 lb heavier empty and 15,000 lb heavier at maximum weight than the Hornet. The F/A-18E/F Super Hornet has replaced the F-14 Tomcat in the United States Navy’s primary maritime air superiority fighter role and is 11,000 lb lighter than the Tomcat at empty weight.
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Another dogfight between Turkish Air Force and Hellenic Air Force this time from the TUAF pilot’s perspective. A TUAF F-16 Falcon engages a HAF Mirage over the Aegean Sea. HUD footage is combined with a few outside views. Videos like this are quite common, since both sides often engage in aerial combat over the Aegean.

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HUD image from a Hellenic Air Force (HAF) Mirage 2000 fighter engaged in a dogfight with a Turkish Air Force (TUAF) F-16 Falcon fighter. This happened probably over the Aegean Sea, where pilots from both HAF and TUAF engage in simulated aerial combat. This is an excellent video, because it gives us an idea of what the pilot of the aircraft sees during combat.

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On January 4, 1989, two US F-14 Tomcats downed two Libyan MiG-23 Flogger Es in an engagement that has come to be known as the Gulf of Sidra incident. This was the second Gulf of Sidra incident following the downing of two Libyan Sukhoi Su-22 Fitters in August 19, 1981.

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On April 17, 2002, the Swiss Air Force invited the German Luftwaffe MiG-29 Fulcrums to a two week exercise, where pilots from both sides were to engage in DACT (Dissimilar Air Combat Training). It was not the first time German MiGs were called upon to confront western pilots with the much feared Russian myth, it was however the first time MiGs were deployed over the Alps. This is an edited video of the action that took place over the mountains. (Read more…)

This is the dogfight scene between an F-16 and an F-15 taken from the IMAX movie Fighter Pilot: Operation Red Flag. Red Flag is the international training exercise for air forces of allied countries where many of the world’s best pilots meet for the most challenging flying of their careers. Red Flag is the final training for pilots and their aircrews before being sent into actual combat.
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The Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 50/52/60 represents a further step in the evolution of the F-16 Fighting Falcon multirole jet fighter. There are many new modifications, most of them internally, but the biggest change visible to the eye is the pair of removable conformal fuel tanks and a dorsal avionics compartment that make the new Falcon one of the ugliest jets ever.

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First developed by the Russians, plasma stealth technology is also known as “Active Stealth Technology”. Plasma stealth is a proposed process that uses ionized gas (plasma) to reduce the radar cross section (RCS) of an aircraft. A plasma stream is injected in front of the aircraft covering the entire body of the aircraft and absorbing most of the electromagnetic energy of the radar waves, thus making the aircraft difficult to detect. (Read more…)

Also known as the Frisbee or the Wobblin’ Goblin the F-117 Nighthawk stealth fighter is the world’s first aircraft that incorporates stealth technology.Developed by the famous Skunk Works division of Lockheed Martin as a development of the Have Blue stealth technology demonstrator, the F-117 Nighthawk flew for the first time in 1977.First delivery was made in 1982 and in 1990 the US Air Force received the last of the 59 aircraft ordered. (Read more…)

Last week the Iranian Air Force successfully tested the new Saeqeh fighter.On September 20 two fighter planes from the Azarakhsh (Thunder) fighter generation were successfully tested in Tehran.This new Iranian fighter, named Saeqeh (Thunderbolt) is the second type of Azarakhsh fighters.The Saeqeh is locally built and is based on adaptations of reversed-engineered, modified (twin-tail) American F-5 platforms developed by IRI, the Air Force and Iran’s Defense Ministry.

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