When it comes to the contest of air power, many say that the most important system is the pilot in the seat. However, giving that pilot the best tools for the job makes it a lot easier for them to succeed. The 21st century has seen the proliferation of stealth technology and advanced computerized weaponry evolving at an exponential rate. The domain in the sky has become a more complex battlefield than ever before.
In response to the ever-shifting landscape of the global defense industrial contest, every major actor on the planet is pushing for more and more advanced aircraft designs today. In this list, we will cover the highlights of some of the world’s most capable combat aircraft. This ranking will begin with the legacy airframes evolving to overcome modern-day challenges and end with the latest and greatest warbirds in service.
F-16 Fighting Falcon
Lockheed Martin
Originally developed by General Dynamics for the US Air Force’s “Fighter Mafia” in the 1970s, the F-16 Fighting Falcon is one of the most iconic warplanes built in the jet era. Also known as the Viper, the aircraft was purpose-built as a lightweight dogfighter from its inception. Now going on a half-century of service, the plane has become one of the most versatile, economical, and capable multirole fighters of the 21st century.
Although it has become dated by comparison to fifth-generation stealth fighters, the plane was never meant to be a total air superiority platform and serves its role as a “Swiss army knife” exceptionally well. The jet is loved by pilots for its incredible maneuverability, and top brass favor the aircraft because of its operational flexibility and low cost per sortie.
The F-16 was originally a multinational jet program for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Many variants of the F-16 have been created over the years, and it has proven itself in combat on many occasions. There are still over 2,000 jets in service all over the world, and there’s even a backlog of new planes on order.
The F-16 is by no means the best fighter jet in the world today, but it remains one of the best platforms to give any Air Force capability without running the cost or risk of deploying an “exquisite” 5th-gen plane. The aircraft is still in production today, since it first flew in 1974, with more than 4,600 made and serving 25 different nations. Lockheed Martin has inherited the assembly line and has no plans to shut it down any time soon.
Rafale
Dassault
The French-built Rafale is described as an “omnirole” aircraft thanks to its ability to perform a wide variety of missions that range from air supremacy, ground attack, anti-ship strikes, reconnaissance, and even nuclear deterrence. Unlike the single-engine F-16, the Rafale has two large and powerful jet engines. That makes the highly maneuverable aircraft not only more reliable, which benefits the naval variant, but also means it can fly nearly twice the speed of sound.
Thanks to all that extra power, the Rafale can carry a larger payload and fly a longer range than the F-16. That makes it capable of much harder-hitting air-to-ground strikes and enables it to fulfill its nuclear deterrence mission. It can also serve as a swing-role platform with a mixed air-to-ground and air-to-air loadout due to its capacity.
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J-16 Hidden Dragon
Shenyang Aircraft
The Chinese J-16 fighter jet is based on the Soviet-era Sukhoi Su-27 and Su-30MKK airframes. The J-16 is a two-seat, twin-engine, multirole strike fighter variant of China’s licensed production of the Su-27, the J-11. The plane’s development was part of a larger plan to modernize the People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) around the turn of the century.
The Shenyang Aircraft Corporation developed the J-16 with significantly enhanced domestic systems. Increased use of composite materials has reduced the aircraft’s weight compared to its Russian counterparts, and some squadrons are believed to have radar-absorbent paint on their jets.
The J-16 was developed to be a heavyweight, multirole counterpart to China’s lighter, single-engine J-10C, in a “high-low” strategy similar in concept to the US deployment of the F-15 and F-16. The Hidden Dragon can fly twice the speed of sound while armed with a wide variety of weapons, including standoff cruise missiles, beyond-visual-range (BVR) missiles, or electronic warfare pods.
Su-35 Flanker-E
Sukhoi
The Su-35 is essentially the ultimate evolution of the Flanker series of fighter jets from Russia. It is considered by some to be a 4++ generation aircraft, and a limited number of these “Super Flankers” have even been sold to China. The fighter incorporates some 5th-Gen technology like thrust vectoring engines and composite construction, but lacks significant stealth features.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine has seen the Su-35 used extensively for air superiority as well as ground attack missions. Although it is one of the most advanced airframes in the Russian inventory, it is not invulnerable. There have been reports of examples being shot down by Ukrainian air defense missiles and even friendly fire losses.
Powered by two Saturn AL-41F1S afterburning turbofans with thrust-vectoring nozzles, it can reach a maximum speed of Mach 2.25 at altitude. The aircraft is equipped with 12 hardpoints capable of carrying 8,000 kg (17,630 lb) of ordnance, including various air-to-air and air-to-surface missiles and guided bombs, along with an internal GSh-30-1 30 mm autocannon.
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Eurofighter Typhoon
Eurofighter Consortium
The Typhoon falls into the same category as the Su-35. It is extremely fast and one of the most agile fighter jets anywhere in the world. The one shortfall of this incredible airframe is its lack of stealth technology. Originally developed as a pure interceptor, the plane has evolved into a multirole platform with exceptional performance and mission capabilities.
Over 600 of these aircraft have been made for nine different Air Forces, which include five that were not part of the original Consortium: the United Kingdom, Spain, Germany, and Italy. Tranche 5 is the latest iteration and offers radar and systems to maximize the fighter’s swing-role performance.
The Typhoon is also one of the few planes capable of supercruise, which is flying above the sound barrier without using afterburners. Its power-to-weight ratio is virtually unmatched, with only the most high-tech air superiority fighters in the world able to best it in a dogfight. While it may not be the top airframe on this list, it has recorded notable kills against adversaries like the stealth F-35 Lightning II in training exercises.
F-15EX Eagle II
Boeing
The Boeing F-15 remains the fastest fighter jet in the sky, even with the development of newer airframes that incorporate technology developed decades after its first flight. The latest variant of the Eagle series is so fast that in testing with a clean configuration, the jet nearly broke Mach 3, according to Boeing, as Forbes reported.
The F-15EX is not a stealth fighter but is designed to act as a “missile truck” or command and control node. Under the high-low fleet strategy, the Eagle II will operate alongside fifth-generation stealth fighters such as the F-35 or F-22. As the most modern version of the F-15 family, it has all-new fly-by-wire controls, a modern electronic warfare suite, and even more payload capacity.
The F-15EX is a derivative of advanced F-15 variants developed by Boeing for export customers, specifically the F-15QA for Qatar and F-15SA for Saudi Arabia. Other nations are acquiring or considering variants of the Advanced Eagle platform, including Israel (F-15IA), Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Indonesia (F-15IDN).
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Su-57 Felon
Sukhoi
The Su-57 is Russia’s first operational stealth fighter, and the only 5th-Gen combat aircraft it has. To date, only a handful have been produced. Supposedly, an export model, the Su-57E, will be delivered to Algeria, United Aircraft Corporation’s first customer, very soon. The aircraft had an exceptionally long and troubled development, and production is now hampered by sanctions imposed by Western countries on the Russian aerospace industry.
Despite not seeing much combat action in Russia’s invasion, at least one has already been destroyed in a Ukrainian drone strike. The aircraft is not truly 5th-Gen by most definitions, largely owing to its engines, which are neither stealthy nor thrust vectoring. India had originally been involved as a joint development partner, but dropped out due to the lack of true 5th-Gen features.
The jet is stealthy, just not as much as its rivals. It is super maneuverable and has a very high top speed as well as a very large payload. Due to mounting losses, Su-57 squadrons are contributing more to Russia’s attacks on Ukraine by progressing from launching standoff cruise missiles to executing precision ground strikes.
J-20 Mighty Dragon
Chengdu Aircraft
The J-20 is the only true 5th-Gen fighter made outside the United States. The Mighty Dragon is speculated to have been developed using stolen technology from the F-22 Raptor program. While the aircraft is a stealth fighter, its technology is inferior to that of its American counterparts.
The aircraft is designed to perform long-range patrol as well as hunt high-value targets like USAF tanker aircraft or airborne command and control platforms (AWACS). Its mission, as well as China’s lack of airborne tankers, made it a very large plane with a significant fuel reserve as well as a large weapons payload capacity, including internal weapons bays and external hardpoints.
The J-20 features a distinctive canard-delta wing configuration, which enhances maneuverability and lift while also working with its low-observable diverterless supersonic inlets (DSI) and radar-absorbent materials to reduce its radar cross-section (RCS).
The J-20 program emerged from the late-1990s J-XX program, aiming to develop a modern stealth fighter for the People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF). The prototype made its maiden flight in 2011, a major milestone that surprised many Western observers.
F-35 Lightning II
Lockheed Martin
The F-35 Lightning II, also called the Joint Strike Fighter, is not the highest-performance fighter jet on this list, but it is one of the most lethal on the modern battlefield. The F-35 is not a single-mission fighter but rather a networked multirole sensor platform. The F-35 can act as a central hub, using its advanced sensors to provide target information to other less advanced aircraft, increasing the lethality and survivability of the entire force.
The F-35 is designed to be the “first-in” aircraft, entering hostile airspace to gather intelligence, disable air defenses with electronic warfare, and establish air dominance for other aircraft. The aircraft automatically aggregates data from all of its Electro-Optical Targeting System (EOTS), the Distributed Aperture System (DAS) with 360-degree infrared coverage, and the Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar, into a single, user-friendly display.
The F-35 was developed under the multinational JSF initiative to be more than just a new stealth fighter. It enhances logistics and interoperability and reduces costs for all branches of the US military and its allies that fly the F-35. The United States, Japan, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Italy make up the heart of the program, while 20 other nations now fly or have ordered the fifth-generation fighter. In total, they will deploy about 3,000 airframes in three different versions.
F-22 Raptor
Lockheed Martin
Simply, the F-22 Raptor remains the ultimate apex predator in the world of air power. As the world’s first true stealth fighter jet, Skunk Works created a plane that heralded a new era of warplane design. The Raptor is not only one of the most stealthy tactical aircraft in the world, but it is also one of the fastest and most maneuverable.
While the F-22 may not be number one in any single performance category, its immensely powerful engines give it supermaneuverability and supercruise capability, despite being a heavier, less aerodynamic plane than rivals like the F-15.
The Raptor also has some of the best beyond-visual-range weapons, making it an incredibly deadly opponent in a shooting war. The Raptor can perform all the same strategic battlefield roles as the F-35, but it can also defeat almost any enemy aircraft in existence in a one-on-one dog fight as well. That unmatched combination makes it the best fighter jet flying today.
