Forums → WEPR → F18-Hornet and the F22-Raptor

Yes but there is also the newest of the new.

The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter

google it it is a sick (in the good way) plane

but it is not even in commission yet so yes the Raptor and the Hornet would currently be the most advanced

but you also have to consider the drone planes such as the predator

as you can tell i am very interested in the Air Force

Predator is an amazing drone. I have a friend who works on that program, and he's told me that it has incredible potential. It could very well signal a change in aero-warfare. Imagine computer dogfights! It boggles, to say the least.

Eh, they might be the "sexiest" planes around, but I doubt they are either the most useful or most technically advanced.

The F-22 has had a lot of problem in production and usage, and F-15s can still fly circles around them. The idea of the F-22 was nifty, but the implementation that came out of it wasn't so great. I don't blame them; the engineering challenges were enormous.

As a fighter craft, the F-35/JSF is eclipsing just about every other fighter out there.

For technical prowess, I'd give it to either the B-2 or the SR-71. The stealth, gliding ability, and weapon accuracy and effectiveness make me think that the B-2 is a better plane. The SR-71 is just freaking cool. I mean, any plane were the thing to do when a missile is fired at you, is to just accelerate, is pretty cool. Not to mention that it flew higher than most missiles could reach. Of course, that necessitated a spacesuit for the pilots.

The thing is, fighters are not really useful military aircraft anymore. The military with enough fighters and trained pilots can crush any other country's air force with a stealth bombing campaign, and the enemy will never get their fighters off the ground. The real workhorses of the air force are the fat slow bombers, the boring troop transports, and the funky looking air-refueling craft.

The eurofighter is the most manouverable plane in the world and could fly rings round the F planes however us Brits are getting some F35s which when they are in production will be the best

@woody
The French Rafale outmanoeuvred the Eurofighter, fairly easily...
I personnaly don't think there is one unique plane that's better than the others. theyall serve different purposes and so can't be compared to others. Also, the plane performances depend a lot on the pilot.

Have you heard of the "red flag" exercise? It's a competition between different countries, to see which is the best plane.

Personally, I like the C-17 Globemaster III, the plane used by many countries for airlifting supplies and troops. With a 102 troop capacity and a 3-man crew, it's not really a plane so much as a flying castle of death.

a lot of people complain about how much money is spent on the F-22 stealh tech. What they don't realize is that you usually rely on your radar to target enemy planes. No radar signature, no target

i agree with anailator

i have heard of the red flag excercise my dad was in it last year.

Also the french are a joke the cheeseeatingsurrendermonkeys.But seriously the eurofighter has been proven to be the most manouverable jet in the world. It has more thrust than the Rafale (13.5k to the Rafales 11.25k) and more powerful afterburner both giving it faster acceleration. The eurofighter has a top speed of mach 2 around 1300mph but the Rafale has a max speed of mach 1.8 around 1100mph.The eurofighter and Rafale are both 4.5th generation planes. In conclusion the eurofighter is faster, has more acceleration and has been proven to be the most manouverable jet in the world.

The eurofighter won all 3 combat and dogfighting tests at the 2005 Singapore competition so don't talk rubbish.

There is also a competition held every year in America where all pilots use the same plane to see which nation has the best pilots. Britain wins consistently as they have the toughest training course(only 10% who apply make it through) so the eurofighter has the best pilots.

That is why the eurofighter is in my opinion the best plane in the world. It is also a multi role aircraft and so can be used for any reason ie air to air or air to ground.

The only plane that can compare to it is the F22 raptor as it has stealth capabilities. That is the only thing it has over the eurofighter, a big advantage i'll admit however the comparative logistics of the plane are very similar with no clear winner until....

In 2005 the eurofighter had a chance encounter with 2 Raptor F22s in the lake district. The encounter turned into a mock dogfight the eurofighter emerging victorious. So when it comes down to it the quality of the eurofighter and its pilots beat 2 f22s. Thats all i have to say on that.

F-35 Joint Strike Fighter is a new non-commisioned plane. it will see commision soon and will be the best most advanced plane today. However, until it comes out to service the F22 Raptor will be the best ground launching fighter in the world and the F18 Hornet will be the best Aircraft carrier plane. I am sorry to say this but foreign planes that are not made by the USA are not the best in the world. They are not as advanced as the USA's planes. Incase you didn't know in WWII the USA had to lend pilots and planes to China beacuse they were still using byplanes! So that just shows you that the US has the best, most advanced fighter planes in the world.

I also have noticed that there are many problems with the F22 Raptor. Because all of the bombs and rockets and stuff are stored inside of the plane it has a easy jamming possiblitly. The F18 hornet also has some problems too. The weapons are on the outside, also causeing easy jams in the rockets. However, the US airforce has made a umjamming system that has been equaipped with all US fighter planes and bombers. all it does is unhooks everything in that missle and lets it go. its a pretty symple device if you ask me.

THE stealthy F-35 Joint Strike Fighter set to eventually touch down at Williamtown RAAF base has been christened the Lightning II, in homage to two earlier renowned fighters.

A ceremony in Washington yesterday provided the first public look at an air force version of the plane.

The supersonic fighter is being developed by the US, Australia, Britain, Italy, the Netherlands, Turkey, Norway, Denmark and Canada.

Being built by a team led by Lockheed Martin at a cost of $US276 billion ($370 billion), it is part of the most costly weapons program in history.

Lightning IIs are expected to replace the ageing fleet of F/A-18 Hornets and F-111 fighter bombers based in Newcastle over the next decade.

Hunter companies will be involved in manufacturing parts and maintaining the next-generation planes.

Varley Engineering at Tomago has a military contract worth up to $US25 million to design, build and test hydraulic jacking systems for the fighters.

"The F-35 Lightning II will be the centrepiece of airpower in the 21st century for America and our allies," US Deputy Defence Secretary Gordon England said.

The F-35's name echoes that of the sleek World War II-era Lockheed P-38 Lightning, which scored the most aerial victories of any US fighter in the Pacific.

English Electric, which later become BAE Systems, built a supersonic twin-engined jet in the mid-1950s that was also called Lightning. It could reach speeds of 2400 kmh and remained in service until 1988.

US Air Force Chief of Staff General Michael Moseley announced the name at the ceremony at Lockheed's plant in Fort Worth, Texas, saying the F-35 represented the fruit of more than 100 years of flight and aerial combat.

Lockheed Martin, based in Bethesda, Maryland, is the prime contractor developing three variants of the single-engine plane.

The F-35 is due to have its inaugural flight later this year, possibly by the end of October.

Part of the reason plane debates never get solved is because of bias due to patriotism and favouring your countries planes. I like the eurofighter because my dad is in the RAF and flies one and hopefully i will be a pilot flying one when i am older as well. But it is still a very good plane.

The good thing about the f35 is that lots of european countries invested in the development of it and so the patriotic bias will end. I belive that it will be the best plane in the worlld when it comes into production as it is a multi role and so will be the most useful to the military.

However even though the US has the most money it doesn't have the best pilots and before you disagree read my previous post

The problem we are running into is that we no longer really need a plane that can have air superiority in these days of long range missiles and unmanned drones. Also think about how the US military is going through with tests to give unmanned drones the ability to engage targets based on AI and a human pilot days are numbered.

It matters less than you think on which of these 2 planes are better. In coordination with an awacs equipped aircraft lesser aircraft can be much more deadly. Stealth bombing techniques destroying early warning radar will limit the effectiveness of any air superiority fighters. Then ground support aircraft become the most important. The idea of the F-35 replacing the A-10 is an absolute joke. Someone is missing the point of ground support aircraft totally right there. So as good as the eurofighter is, give me an awacs and I'll beat them with outdated F-14s. Also woody is right about biasedness. But he is forgetting that a countries aircraft are also designed around their style of combat. American designed aircraft tend to be the most armored for survivability. Russian designed aircraft tend to care less for pilot and more about speed and if I remember correctly were the last to start using ejection seats. European aircraft tended to try and take a balanced approach compared to the U.S. and Russia. So we again end back up at the style of fighting dictates approach to design. This is true in aircraft, naval vessels and ground equipment.

Dammit people, it's F/A 18.

Itz teh awsumist plane eva. It ttly kiks a$$ moar then any uder plane.

But seriously, no other plane in the United States Navy is as versatile, lethal, and awesome as it. No other plane will ever be as versatile. All this F35 nonsense, it won't ever fly in my book. It's too wimpy, and quite frankly, it isn't nor ever will be able to come out of top when trying to face down F15's, F/A 18's, or F16's. It will never have the same capabilities, nor be as versatile. It just won't.

/Rant