Jet fighter generations (Ajax)
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Various features in jet fighters are described in terms of "generations", whereby a typical jet fighters of a given generation tends to have a certain class of engines, avionics, etc., and a typical jet fighter of the succeeding generation tends to have a different (and superior) set of engines, avionics, etc.
Classification
Fight aircraft in Ajax are classified into successive generations based on their technology and design elements. This system was initially developed by military historians in the 1970s and widely adopted by the world.
- 1st Generation - High subsonic, conventional armament
- 2nd Generation - Transonic air-to-air missiles, radar, Early supersonic radar, air-to-air missiles
- 3rd Generation - Supersonic (limited purpose), Mach 2 air-air missiles only, Multi-purpose fighter-bombers
- 4th Generation - Also 4+ and 4++. Supersonic (multirole), Supersonic multirole (4), high efficiency. High manoeuvrability (4), Enhanced capabilities, advanced avionics, limited stealth (4+, 4++)
- 5th Generation - Advanced integrated avionics, low observable stealth
First generation (Post 1942)
Aircraft | Role | Primary Builder |
Number built |
First flight |
Service life |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Morgenroete F-149 Gyrfalcon | Jet fighter | ![]() |
87 | 1949 | 1950 - 1967 |
Falcus Designs Me-490 | Jet fighter | ![]() |
Unknown | 1947 | 1948 - 1955 |
KAD LLv.48 Strix | Jet aircraft | ![]() |
952 (some later converted to 48-57 standard) | 1945 | 1948 - 1964 |
AGMA P49 Lightning | Jet fighter-bomber | ![]() |
93 | 1949 | 1951 - 1963 |
Second generation
These jet fighters started to regularly use onboard radar and passive-homing infrared-guided (IR) missiles. Early IR missile sensors had poor sensitivity and a very narrow field of view (typically no more than 30°)
Aircraft | Role | Primary Builder |
Number built |
First flight |
Service life |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Greenwich Tigress and Super Tigress | Jet aircraft | ![]() |
1954/1956 | 1955 - 1984 | |
Mikasa Gallienus MiK-58 | Jet aircraft | ![]() |
1957 | 1959 - Present | |
Geem E-35 Draco | Jet aircraft | ![]() |
1955 | 1960 - 1988 | |
Ahuriri Aerospace Kokotere | Jet aircraft | ![]() |
Unknown | 1947 | 1950 - 1968 |
Falcus Designs Me-500 | Jet aircraft | ![]() |
250 | 1954 | 1955 - 1970 |
KAD LLv.48-57 Vengeance | Jet aircraft | ![]() |
700+ | 1956 | 1958 - 1972 |
AGMA P52 Lightning II | Jet fighter-bomber | ![]() |
211 | 1952 | 1954 - 1969 |
Third generation
The archetype of this generation is the [Insert Aircraft], the [Insert Nation] jet fighter model with the highest production number to date.
- improved air-to-air missiles
- improved radar systems (look-down/shoot-down)
- other avionics
- air-to-air missiles became the primary weapons for air superiority fighters, which employed more sophisticated radars and medium-range RF AAMs to achieve greater "stand-off" ranges,
- guided ground-attack missiles
- first truly effective avionics for enhanced ground attack
- terrain-avoidance systems.
- Air-to-surface missiles (ASM) equipped with electro-optical (E-O) contrast seekers
- laser-guided bombs (LGBs) became widespread
Aircraft | Role | Primary Builder |
Number built |
First flight |
Service life |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Airing-Copwell Shark | Bomber escort/penetration fighter | ![]() |
120 | 1954 | 1955 - 1971 |
Airing-Copwell Spectre | Jet fighter/interceptor | ![]() |
158 | 1953 | 1956 - 1980 |
Airing-Copwell Super-Spectre | Jet fighter/interceptor | ![]() |
277 | 1958 | 1959 - 1992 |
Falcus Designs Me-510 | Jet fighter/interceptor | ![]() |
Unknown | 1953 | 1960 – Present |
Continental Reaper | Jet fighter | ![]() |
Unknown | 1958 | 1960 – Present |
Mikasa Gallienus MiK-70 | Jet fighter | ![]() |
Unknown | 1968 | 1972-Present |
Geem E-37 Vikken | Jet fighter | ![]() |
Unknown | 1967 | 1971-2005 |
Ahuriri Aerospace Kērangi | Fighter-bomber | ![]() |
Unknown | 1957 | 1960 - 1989 |
K'akmul 5 | Jet fighter | ![]() |
Unknown | 1959 | 1959-Present |
N6 Vindicator | Interceptor aircraft | 228 | 1956 | 1961-1995 | |
N6/17 Voyager | Attack aircraft | 60 | 1967 | 1968-2000 | |
Morgenroete F-103 Ótkon | Interceptor aircraft | ![]() |
190 | 1952 | 1953 - 1984 |
Fourth, 4+ and 4++ generation
Fourth-generation designs are heavily influenced by lessons learned from the previous generation of combat aircraft.
- much higher maneuverability due to low static stability, made possible by fly-by-wire flight control system
- advances in digital computers and system integration techniques
- system upgrades such as AESA, digital avionics buses and IRST
Fifth generation
- General design concern about radar cross-section (RCS), in particular:
- chines instead of standard leading edge extensions or canards
- internal weapon bays instead of outboard weapon pylons
- a high percentage of composite materials (also to reduce weight)
- commercial off-the-shelf main processors to directly control all sensors to form a consolidated view of the battlespace that is then shared via low observable data links.
- newest generation of high performance jet engines
Aircraft | Role | Primary Builder |
Number built |
First flight |
Service life |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
UFC F-29 Hurricane | Stealth multirole combat aircraft | United Fighter Corporation | 300+ | 2003 | 2002 - Present |
Oxidentale Jet Works Mi-14 Harpy Eagle | Stealth multirole combat aircraft | Oxidentale Jet Works | 230 | 2005 | 2007 - Present |
Morgenroete F-104 Ghost | Stealth air superiority fighter | Morgenroete Aerospace | 150 | 1995 | 2012 - Present |