Aircraft - Page 7

An air force buys a fighter once and pays for it for forty years. The purchase price is the smallest part of that, which is why fleet decisions turn on sustainment cost, spares depth and depot throughput more than on any performance figure in the brochure.

This section follows military fixed-wing aviation. Fighters, bombers, transports, trainers, purpose-built early warning and reconnaissance types. Procurement competitions and their outcomes. Upgrade programs, structural life extensions, and retirements that get delayed because the replacement is late.

Delivery counts and mission-capable rates are reported when a service or an auditor publishes them, and left out when nobody has.

img

Rafale in Combat: “War for Dummies”

Pilots walk to their jets before sunrise, climb the ladder, key the INS, and watch the route and target files flow in by Link 16. A typical launch leaves the chocks with the following kit:
May 31, 2011
1 … 5 6 7

Related Coverage

The engines that set range, payload and most of the schedule risk are in Aircraft Propulsion. Aircraft (Civil/Military Systems) covers the airliner-derived tankers and patrol aircraft this section does not. Platforms & Systems is the parent.

Radars, pods and mission systems are followed in Surveillance & Reconnaissance, and the weapons and electronic warfare fits in Weapons & Technologies. Production rates, export campaigns and supplier problems sit in Defense Industry. Fleet plans and the funding behind them come out of Defense Budgets / Policy.