Importance of Generations of Combat Aircraft

Alsina González
Specialist journalist and researcher

The Wright brothers may not have glimpsed the bright future that awaited aviation when they got their flyer was the first human-made heavier-than-air object to take off and sustain flight, on December 17, 1903.

Since then, the race to dominate the sky has not stopped, both for transport... and for war.

And it is that the military have found in airplanes the right instrument to dominate the battlefield. So much so that the air power of an army has determined its victory or defeat on more than one occasion.

It has been in cases such as the Second World War, when the Luftwaffe found itself unable to contain the Allied bombing of the German war infrastructure, or in the same war in the case of Japan, or in the kosovo war, when NATO air pressure forced the Yugoslav government to cease fire and negotiate.

The present of military aviation is marked by jet fighter-bombers, which have become true weapons platforms, but as in everything, these have also followed their evolution since the first jets crossed the skies of the world in the decades of the 30s and 40s of the century xx. And this evolution is summarized in the different generations that have been born with the progress of these mills.

The first generation of modern combat aircraft kicked off just before the start of World War II with the first jet engines.

Despite the fact that the British and Italians developed efforts in this investigation, it was the Germans (fully focused on a strong and costly policy of rearmament from 1933) who took the lead.

In August 1939 he was flying the Heinkel He 178, the world's first jet aircraft, although it would not be the first to enter active combat service.

That honor would go to a creation by Willy Messerschmitt, one of Hitler's favorite engineers: the elegant and legendary Me 262.

The aircraft of this era are still heirs to the functions and tactics developed in the interwar period and perfected during the global war of 1939-1945.

Although the Arado Ar 234 was a jet-powered bomber, the role of jets is reserved for hunting.

He dogfight, the practice of aerial combat between two fighters at close range, is what the weapons of the time, cannons and machine guns, that mount these devices allow.

Initially, jet planes are nothing more than conventional piston aircraft to which jet engines are adapted, but with the tense post-war calm, engineers have time to learn how to optimize aircraft to get the most out of their engines.

Thus, designs such as the North American F-86 Saber or the Soviet MiG-15, which were seen in the skies of Korea, arose. As a novelty, these planes could house and fire unguided rockets, and drop bombs on the enemy. Their sizes were already larger than their World War II piston counterparts.

In the mid-50s, the first models of second-generation jet fighters were produced.

Various factors lead to the technological advance that will lead to this second generation. In the first place, the increasing speed of the devices, which exceeded mach 1 (the speed of sound), which was difficult to do. practicable "target shooting" with cannons and machine guns that had been done since the beginning of military aviation.

Secondly, the technological advance itself, and especially electronics, which allowed the construction of more intelligent and functional systems. For example, radar and guided missiles began to become commonplace.

The planes are divided into two basic roles: interceptors, and fighter-bombers, the latter beginning to become what combat aircraft are today: weapons launch platforms.

The F-104 Starfighter, North American F-5 Freedom Fighter, the French Mirage III and 5, and the MiG 19 and 21 Soviet, are some of the most iconic models of this era, which extends into the years 60. Some of the aforementioned models are still active in some armed forces…

From the beginning of the 60s until the beginning of the following decade, the third generation of combat jets was developed, in which a kind of dogfight and emphasis is placed on ground attack capabilities.

However, this dogfight modern has little to do with that of World War II, and surpasses what could be seen in the skies of Korea, since it is based on the use of guided missiles and countermeasures.

For evasive maneuvers and to overcome the enemy, in addition to greater speed, it is required also superior maneuverability for turning in tighter circles, for example, which gives place to canards, the small auxiliary forewings.

Air-to-ground missiles are one of the main innovations in the field of weapons for these aircraft. Obviously, this also creates a new specialization in these aircraft, that of ground attack.

Especially iconic of this era are models like the North American F-4 Phantom II, and the Soviet MiG 23, 25, and 27.

the next generation is the fourth, which emphasizes multi-role aircraft, in addition to introducing digital computers on board aircraft.

Fighter-bombers, which have begun a slow path to becoming flying weapons platforms, are now beginning to mature as such.

The focus continues to be on maneuverability, as these aircraft do not shy away from close-range combat. distance, and its weapons panoply is prepared accordingly, with long-range weapons but also short. In addition, multirole demands also lead to include ground attack weapons.

Iconic aircraft of this generation are the American F-14 (popularized by the movie Top Gun), F-15, F-16 and F-18, the Tornado and the Eurofighter, both the result of a joint effort between several European countries, the French Rafale, the Soviet MiG-29, the British Harrier, and the Jas Swedish flu.

The F-15 also has the honor of being the first superiority fighter designed as such in history.

This generation makes up the bulk of aircraft in service today with many of the world's major militaries.

Some of these models have been improved in recent years with characteristics of the fifth generation, giving rise to what is known as 4.5G.

This is the case of the MiG-35, a new aircraft built on the basis of the MiG-29 with notable improvements over the latter.

The fifth generation is characterized mainly by features stealth (of concealment), and digital electronic communications that allow them to operate in a network, both with other aircraft and with the army, the navy, or any other branch.

They are the most advanced aircraft in service today (*2019), with names like the fighter superiority F-22 Raptor and its multirole and embarked version, the F-35 Lightning II, the Russian Su-57, or the Chinese J-20.

What could a future sixth generation hold for us?

Well, probably an evolution of what we see in the fifth with the addition of artificial intelligence, of so that, rather than evolve the fighter-bombers, what will be done is to convert them into unmanned ones, improving their characteristicsstealth.

Probably this type of device will work in a network together with other similar aircraft, or aircraft specialized in different roles, forming an autonomous attack and response network with little or no human intervention during the attack. combat.

At best, human commanders will select targets for sixth-generation robotic planes to decide how to hit.

Scary right?

Fotolia: Radoslaw Maciejewski, Keith Tarrier