By the 1970s steady improvements in engine performance, aerodynamics, avionics, and aircraft structures had resulted in a trend toward multimission fighters. Also, as engine acceleration characteristics improved dramatically and radars, fire-control systems, and air-to-air missiles became more compact and capable, the performance of aircraft themselves became less important than the capabilities of their missiles and sensors. It was now clear that, even with supersonic aircraft, almost all aerial combat occurred at transonic and subsonic speeds. Thenceforth, speed and operating ceiling were traded off against sustained maneuvering energy, sensor capabilities, mixed ordnance of guns and missiles, range, takeoff and landing qualities, multimission capability, political goals, and—above all—cost. A dramatic manifestation of the complexity of this new design equation was the Hawker Harrier, the first vertical/short takeoff and landing (V/STOL) fighter. Transonic and short-ranged but able to dispense with runways, the Harrier became operational with the RAF in 1967 and over the following decades was fitted with avionics of growing capabilities. The Royal Navy’s Sea Harrier version distinguished itself in the 1982 Falkland Islands War both against Argentine ground positions and in dogfights with A-4s and Mirage IIIs.

The new generation of fighters was characterized by Mach 2+ performance where necessary, multimission capability, and sophisticated all-weather avionics. Many aircraft of this generation employed variable-geometry wings, permitting the amount of sweep to be changed in flight to obtain optimal performance for a given speed. Important aircraft in this generation included, roughly in order of operational appearance, the following: the MiG-25 Foxbat, a large single-seat interceptor and reconnaissance aircraft with a service ceiling of 80,000 feet (24,400 metres) and a top speed on the order of Mach 2.8 but with limited maneuverability and low-altitude performance; the MiG-23 Flogger, a variable-wing interceptor able to acquire and engage with missiles below it in altitude; the MiG-27 Flogger, a ground-attack derivative of the MiG-23; the Saab 37 Viggen, designed for short takeoff with a main delta wing aft and small delta wings with flaps forward; the fixed-wing Sepecat Jaguar, developed by a French-British consortium in ground-attack and interceptor versions; the Grumman F-14 Tomcat, a highly maneuverable twin-engined, two-seat variable-geometry interceptor armed with long-range missiles for the defense of U.S. aircraft-carrier fleets; the Dassault-Breguet Mirage F1, designed for multimission capability and export potential; the McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle, a single-seat, twin-engined fixed-geometry air-force fighter designed for maximum sustained maneuvering energy (a concept developed by U.S. Air Force Col. John Boyd) and the first possessor of a genuine “look-down/shoot-down” capability, which was the product of pulse-Doppler radars that could detect fast-moving targets against cluttered radar reflections from the ground; the Panavia Tornado, a compact variable-geometry aircraft developed jointly by West Germany, Italy, and Great Britain in no fewer than four versions, ranging from two-seat all-weather, low-altitude attack to single-seat air-superiority; the U.S. General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon, a high-performance single-seat multirole aircraft with impressive air-to-ground capability; the MiG-29 Fulcrum, a single-seat, twin-engined fixed-geometry interceptor with a look-down/shoot-down capability; the MiG-31 Foxhound interceptor, apparently derived from the MiG-25 but with less speed and greater air-to-air capability; and the McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet, a single-seat carrier-based aircraft designed for ground attack but also possessing excellent air-to-air capability.

High-altitude craft

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The Luftwaffe fielded the first operational jet bomber, the Arado Ar 234, in the waning months of World War II, but it had minimal impact. The jet bombers of the immediate postwar years enjoyed only indifferent success, mostly serving to test engineering and operational concepts and being produced in small numbers. By the mid-1950s, however, first the Americans and then the British and the Soviets began to field highly capable jet bombers. The first of these to be produced in large numbers was the swept-wing, six-engined Boeing B-47 Stratojet, deployed in 1950 and used by the U.S. Strategic Air Command as a long-range nuclear weapons carrier. It was followed in 1955 by the eight-engined Boeing B-52 Stratofortress. This huge bomber, 160 feet 10.9 inches (49 metres) long and with a wing span of 185 feet (56 metres), remained the principal long-range nuclear weapons carrier of the United States for 30 years. During the Vietnam War it dropped conventional bombs on both tactical and strategic missions, and in the 1980s it received a new lease on life by being fitted with air-launched cruise missiles, which permitted it to threaten targets from beyond the range of air-defense systems.

The British “V-bombers,” introduced in the 1950s, comprised the Vickers Valiant, the Handley Page Victor, and the Avro Vulcan. These served as the backbone of Britain’s nuclear deterrent until superseded by Polaris-missile-equipped nuclear submarines in the 1970s. The Vulcan, the first jet bomber to use the delta-wing configuration, remained in service long enough to drop conventional bombs in the Falkland Islands War.

The first Soviet jet bombers with strategic potential were the twin-engined Tupolev Tu-16 Badger (deployed in 1954) and the larger and less-successful four-engined Myasishchev M-4 Bison (deployed in 1956). In 1956 the Soviets also fielded the only turboprop strategic bomber to see service, the Tu-95 Bear, a large swept-wing aircraft powered by four huge turboprop engines with contrarotating propellers. The Tu-95 proved to have excellent performance. Like the B-52, it was adapted to maritime and cruise missile patrol after it had become obsolete as a strategic bomber, and it too continued service into the 21st century.

The aircraft mentioned above were capable of only subsonic speeds. The first operational supersonic bomber was the delta-winged Convair B-58 Hustler of the United States, placed in active service in 1960. This bomber carried its nuclear weapon and most of its fuel in a huge jettisonable pod beneath the fuselage.

Low-level penetration

The B-58 had a service life of only three years, because in the early 1960s it became apparent that surface-to-air missiles could shoot down aircraft even at previously safe altitudes of over 50,000 feet (15,240 metres). In response, bombers sought protection from early-warning radar by flying at low levels, and a new generation of high-performance bombers came into service that took complete advantage of the propulsion, aerodynamic, and electronic advances of the postwar era. The first of these was the U.S. General Dynamics F-111, the first operational aircraft to use a variable-sweep wing. Variable geometry was originally intended to allow the F-111 to combine the missions of low-altitude bomber and high-altitude fleet-defense fighter, but the fighter version was eventually abandoned. After a poor showing in Indochina in 1968, the F-111 became a successful high-speed, low-altitude, all-weather penetrator. As such, it joined with considerable effect in the final stages of the U.S. aerial offensive on North Vietnam, and it was assigned to NATO as a tactical-range nuclear weapons carrier. The F-111 also played an important role in the Persian Gulf War (1990–91). The Soviet Su-24 Fencer was similar to the F-111.

Larger strategic bombers using variable geometry to achieve high performance at low altitudes included the Soviet Tu-22 Backfire, the U.S. Rockwell International B-1, and the Tu-160 Blackjack. These bombers, supplementing the older purely subsonic aircraft, formed an important part of the U.S. and Soviet nuclear forces after their deployment in 1975, 1985, and 1988, respectively. In common with all first-line combat aircraft, they were equipped with sophisticated electronic countermeasure (ECM) equipment designed to jam or deceive enemy radars. They could deliver free-fall conventional or nuclear bombs, air-to-surface missiles, and cruise missiles. The B-1B Lancer, the operational version of the B-1, could achieve supersonic flight only in short bursts at high altitude, while the Soviet bombers were capable of supersonic “dash” at low level and could fly at twice the speed of sound at high altitude.