Fighter aircraft

A community portal about Fighter aircraft with blogs, videos, and photos. According to Wikipedia.org: A fighter aircraft is a military aircraft designed primarily for attacking other aircraft, as opposed to a bomber, which is designed to attack ground targets, primarily by dropping bombs. Fighters are comparatively small, fast, and maneuverable. They were developed in response to the fledgling use of aircraft and dirigibles in World War I for reconnaissance and ground attack roles. These early fighters were mostly wooden biplanes with light machine guns. As aerial warfare became increasingly important, so did control of the airspace. By World War II, fighters were predominantly metal monoplanes with wing-mounted cannon. Following the war, turbojets replaced piston engines as the means of propulsion, and missiles augmented or replaced guns. For historical purposes, jet fighters are classified by generation. The generation terminology was initiated by Russian defense parlance in referring to the F-35 Lightning II as a "fifth generation" plane. Years are not exact and intended as a guideline. Modern jet fighters are predominantly powered by one or two turbofan engines, armed primarily with missiles, with a cannon as backup armament, and equipped with a radar as the primary method of target acquisition.

Write an Article

RSS

House votes to fund F-35 alternate engine

From: reuters.com

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives approved on Thursday $560 million to continue work on an alternate F-35 engine being built by General Electric Co and Rolls-Royce Group Plc, defying a White House veto threat.

The legislation passed by a vote of 281 to 146, despite the Obama administration's attempts to shut the second engine program down. The bill also would fully fund the Pentagon's $6 billion request to buy 30 F-35 fighters, built by the Lockheed Martin Corp.

The bill's backers hope that inclusion of full funding for the versatile aircraft will be enough to stave off a veto.

A Pentagon spokesman declined to say whether the administration would veto the bill.

"The department will carefully evaluate the impact on the overall Joint Strike Fighter program before making recommendations to the president about whether or not to veto the legislation," Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman told a news conference.

The Senate also must approve the measure, which was included in a bill that sets the Pentagon budget for the fiscal year that started October 1.

(Reporting by Andy Sullivan and Adam Entous, editing by Tim Dobbyn)

Previous Article Next Article