The World's Fastest 10 Aircraft
10.Sukhoi Su-27 Flanker
The Su-27 is a big long-range air superiority fighter, comparable to the U.S. F-15 but superior in many respects. Its top speed of 2.35 mach brings it to the very edge of USSR craftmanship with a twin engine and the first fly-by-wire control system on a Russian jet ever. It was built for air superiority to counter the new American 3.5 gen fighters such as the F-15 Eagle.
9.General Dynamics F-111
Aardvark
Next on the top 10 fastest aircraft
in the world list is the F-111. It was a multipurpose tactical
fighter bomber capable of supersonic speeds. The aircraft was one of the more
controversial aircraft ever to fly, yet it achieved one of the safest
operational records of any aircraft in USAF history and became a highly effective
all-weather interdiction aircraft. F-111 Aardvark is not a fighter
but a tactical bomber capable of flying at mach 2.5. It had, before its
retirement in 1998, 9 hardpoints and 2 weapon bays, together being able to
deliver a payload of 14,300 kg of bombs, a nuclear bomb, air-to-air missiles or
a 2000 round machine gun could be fitted. However due to the Aardvark’s role in
air it was rarely fitted with the gun.
8.McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle
The F-15E Strike Eagle is a twin-engine, all weather fighter that is the
backbone for the Air Force’s air superiority. Its proven design is undefeated
in air-to-air combat, with more than 100 aerial combat victories.The Eagle’s
twin-engine and thrust-to-weight ratio of almost 1:1 can propel the 18,000 kg
aircraft to more than 2.5 times the speed of sound. The F-15 has been claimed
to be one of the most successful aircraft ever built and is still in service
with the US Air Force.
7.Mikoyan MiG-31 Foxhound
With a top speed of mach 2.83, the next plane on our top 10 fastest aircraft in the world list is the Mikoyan Gurevich-31 Foxhound. The Mikoyan MiG-31 Foxhound is a Russian-built interceptor aircraft it’s designed to go straight, very fast, in order to intercept and destroy invading planes as a modernized replacement to the older MiG-25 Foxbat in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
6.XB-70 Valkyrie
The XB-70 Valkyrie was a unique
aircraft with six engines which together could accelerate the 240,000 kilogram
aircraft to a velocity of mach 3. This speed resulted in the frame of the
aircraft being heated up to as much as 330°C on some areas. The extreme speed
was needed for two reasons: 1: To accelerate away from Soviet interceptors and
2: To be able to escape the blast of the nuclear bombs that it was capable of
dropping. The aircraft had its first flight in 1964 and is now retired, only
two were built.
5.Bell X-2 Starbuster
5.Bell X-2 Starbuster
The Bell X-2 was a rocket-powered,
swept-wing research aircraft designed to investigate the structural effects of
aerodynamic heating as well as stability and control effectiveness at high
speeds and altitudes. The program was developed jointly in 1945 to explore
aerodynamic problems of supersonic flight and to expand the speed and altitude
regimes obtained with the earlier X-1 series of research aircraft. The
Starbuster was a continuation of the X-2 program and so its area of
investigation was to see how aircrafts behaved when flying at speeds higher
than mach 2.0. It did, as can be understood, not carry any weapons and featured
a back-swept wing which made it have little air-resistance and was by that able
to achieve the stunning speed of 3.196 mach in 1956. However soon after this
speed was attained the pilot, Milburn G. Apt, made a sharp turn and the
aircraft tumbled out of control. He could not regain control of the aircraft and
bailed out. Unfortunately, only the small parachute of the escape shuttle was
opened and he hit the ground with too high speed. This fatal crash ended the
Starbuster program, but Bell X-2 still is one of top 10 fastest
aircraft in the world.
4.Mikoyan MiG-25
Foxbat
The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25 was a super
fast interceptor and reconnaissance/bomber aircraft (its speeds are still not
matched today!) designed by the Soviet Union’s Mikoyan-Gurevich bureau. First
flown as a prototype in 1964, it entered service in 1970. With a top speed of
Mach 3.2(however the engines would blow up at that speed), a powerful radar and
four air-to-air missiles, the MiG-25 worried Western observers and prompted
development of the F-15 Eagle.
3.Lockheed YF-12
This jet was an American interceptor
prototype with a top speed of mach 3.35. It looked almost like the SR-71
Blackbird and featured three Air-to-Air missiles. The reason for it
looking a lot like the SR-71 was because the SR-71 was based on the YF-12. Only
3 YF-12’s were built but the program still made it into the history books with
its “highest speed”, “highest altitude” and “biggest interceptor”
records.
2.Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird
After its introduction in 1966 it has
been used by both the USAF and NASA. 32 Blackbirds were built, all used for
reconnaissance and experimental research. It featured stealth technology but if
it was, against all odds, spotted by enemy forces, it could outrun the
interceptors or surface-to-air missiles that was fired at it, due to its fantastic
speed. The Blackbird was so fast that the air in front of it did not have time
to escape, hence building up a huge pressure, and raised temperature. The
temperature of the aircraft, which could reach several hundred degrees high,
expanded the metal, hence it had to be built by too small pieces. Because of
this, the SR-71 actually leaked oil when standing still. The SR-71 was
developed as a long-range strategic reconnaissance aircraft capable of flying
at speeds over Mach 3.2 and at 85,000 feet.
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