Misplaced Pages

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86-547: Development of the AAM-N-10 began in 1957 with the definition of the fleet defense fighter : a subsonic , long-endurance interceptor aircraft carrying a powerful radar set and very-long-range missiles, capable of shooting down enemy bombers at the greatest possible distance from the aircraft carriers they were attempting to attack. In 1958, Douglas Aircraft was contracted to develop the F6D-1 Missileer fighter, and

172-529: A η j {\displaystyle P_{br}={\frac {P_{a}}{\eta _{j}}}} The corresponding fuel weight flow rates can be computed now: F = c p P b r {\displaystyle F=c_{p}P_{br}} Thrust power is the speed multiplied by the drag, is obtained from the lift-to-drag ratio : P a = V C D C L W g ; {\displaystyle P_{a}=V{\frac {C_{D}}{C_{L}}}Wg;} here Wg

258-785: A = 7 5 R s T {\textstyle a={\sqrt {{\frac {7}{5}}R_{s}T}}} ; here R s {\displaystyle R_{s}} is the specific heat constant of air 287.16 J/kg K (based on aviation standards) and γ = 7 / 5 = 1.4 {\displaystyle \gamma =7/5=1.4} (derived from γ = c p c v {\textstyle \gamma ={\frac {c_{p}}{c_{v}}}} and c p = c v + R s {\displaystyle c_{p}=c_{v}+R_{s}} ). c p {\displaystyle c_{p}} and c v {\displaystyle c_{v}} are

344-569: A boxcar . Similarly, their pilots were given less training in combat maneuvers, and more in radio-directed pursuit. The Soviets' main interceptor was initially the Su-9 , which was followed by the Su-15 and the MiG-25 "Foxbat". The auxiliary Tu-128 , an area range interceptor, was notably the heaviest fighter aircraft ever to see service in the world. The latest and most advanced interceptor aircraft in

430-532: A thrust specific fuel consumption , so that rate of fuel flow is proportional to drag , rather than power. F = c T T = c T C D C L W {\displaystyle F=c_{T}T=c_{T}{\frac {C_{D}}{C_{L}}}W} Using the lift equation, 1 2 ρ V 2 S C L = W {\displaystyle {\frac {1}{2}}\rho V^{2}SC_{L}=W} where ρ {\displaystyle \rho }

516-485: A brief period of time they fared rapid development in both speed, range, and altitude. At the end of the 1960s, a nuclear attack became unstoppable with the introduction of ballistic missiles capable of approaching from outside the atmosphere at speeds as high as 3 to 4 miles per second (5 to 7 km/s). The doctrine of mutually assured destruction replaced the trend of defense strengthening, making interceptors less strategically logical. The utility of interceptors waned as

602-462: A chosen aspect of performance. A "point defense interceptor" is of a lightweight design, intended to spend most of its time on the ground located at the defended target, and able to launch on demand, climb to altitude, manoeuvre and then attack the bomber in a very short time, before the bomber can deploy its weapons. At the end of Second World War, the Luftwaffe ' s most critical requirement

688-459: A command centre in the Horse Guards building. The Pup proved to have too low performance to easily intercept Gotha G.IV bombers, and the superior Sopwith Camels supplanted them. The term "interceptor" was in use by 1929. Through the 1930s, bomber aircraft speeds increased so much that conventional interceptor tactics appeared impossible. Visual and acoustic detection from the ground had

774-464: A cruise configuration over the extended distance to the target. The airframe of the missile was subcontracted by Bendix to Grumman Aircraft ; Aerojet was subcontracted to build the AAM-N-10's rocket motors. The booster would propel the Eagle to a speed of Mach 3.5; following ignition of the sustainer, the missile would slowly accelerate to a Mach 4.5 cruise speed. A conventional high explosive warhead

860-639: A lift-to-drag ratio of 18:1, and a structural efficiency of 50%, the cruise range would be The range equation may be further extended to consider operational factors by including an operational efficiency ("ops" for flight operations) R = Z f η eng η aero η struc η ops {\displaystyle R=Z_{f}\eta _{\text{eng}}\eta _{\text{aero}}\eta _{\text{struc}}\eta _{\text{ops}}} The operational efficiency η o p s {\displaystyle \eta _{ops}} may be expressed as

946-472: A much larger area from attack, depending on greater detection capabilities, both in the aircraft themselves and operating with AWACS, rather than high speed to reach targets. The exemplar of this concept was the Tupolev Tu-28 . The later Panavia Tornado ADV was able to achieve long range in a smaller airframe through the use of more efficient engines. Rather than focusing on acceleration and climb rate,

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1032-510: A number of airplane weights from the equilibrium condition P a = P r {\displaystyle P_{a}=P_{r}} is noted . To each flight velocity, there corresponds a particular value of propulsive efficiency η j {\displaystyle \eta _{j}} and specific fuel consumption c p {\displaystyle c_{p}} . The successive engine powers can be found: P b r = P

1118-694: A pair of proposals for interceptor aircraft, the first such designation in the US. One proposal was for a single-engine fighter, the other for a twin-engine. Both were required to reach an altitude of 20,000 feet (6,100 m) in six minutes as a defense against bomber attack. Kelsey said later that he used the interceptor designation to sidestep a hard USAAC policy restricting fighters to 500 pounds (230 kg) of armament. He wished for at least 1,000 pounds (450 kg) of armament so that American fighters could dominate their battles against all opponents, fighters included. The two aircraft resulting from these proposals were

1204-510: A range of only a few miles, which meant that an interceptor would have insufficient time to climb to altitude before the bombers reached their targets. Standing combat air patrols were possible but only at great cost. The conclusion at the time was that " the bomber will always get through ". The invention of radar made possible early, long-range detection of aircraft on the order of 100 miles (160 km), both day and night and in all weather. A typical bomber might take twenty minutes to cross

1290-615: A specific range and fuel weight flow rate can be related to the characteristics of the airplane and propulsion system; if these are constant: R = η j g c p C L C D ln ⁡ W 1 W 2 = V ( L / D ) I s p L n ( W i / W f ) {\displaystyle R={\frac {\eta _{j}}{gc_{p}}}{\frac {C_{L}}{C_{D}}}\ln {\frac {W_{1}}{W_{2}}}=V(L/D)IspLn(Wi/Wf)} An electric aircraft with battery power only will have

1376-619: A step and roughly doubled operational altitudes. Although radars also improved in performance, the gap between offense and defense was dramatically reduced. Large attacks could so confuse the defense's ability to communicate with pilots that the classic method of manual ground controlled interception was increasingly seen as inadequate. In the United States, this led to the introduction of the Semi-Automatic Ground Environment to computerize this task, while in

1462-453: A very high fuel consumption. This led fighter prototypes emphasizing acceleration and operational ceiling, with a sacrifice on the loiter time, essentially limiting them to point defense role. Such were the mixed jet/rocket power Republic XF-91 or Saunders Roe SR.53 . The Soviet and Western trials with zero-length launch were also related. None of these found practical use. Designs that depended solely on jet engines achieved more success with

1548-557: Is d W d R = d W d t d R d t = − F V , {\displaystyle {\frac {dW}{dR}}={\frac {\frac {dW}{dt}}{\frac {dR}{dt}}}=-{\frac {F}{V}},} where V {\displaystyle V} is the speed), so that d R d t = − V F d W d t {\displaystyle {\frac {dR}{dt}}=-{\frac {V}{F}}{\frac {dW}{dt}}} It follows that

1634-1235: Is a height that a quantity of fuel could lift itself in the Earth's gravity field (assumed constant) by converting its chemical energy into potential energy. Z f {\displaystyle Z_{f}} for kerosene jet fuel is 2,376 nautical miles (4,400 km) or about 69% of the Earth's radius . There are two useful alternative ways to express the structural efficiency η struc = ln ⁡ W ^ 1 W ^ 2 = ln ⁡ ( 1 + W fuel W ^ 2 ) = − ln ⁡ ( 1 − W fuel W ^ 1 ) {\displaystyle \eta _{\text{struc}}=\ln {\frac {{\widehat {W}}_{1}}{{\widehat {W}}_{2}}}=\ln \left(1+{\frac {{W}_{\text{fuel}}}{{\widehat {W}}_{2}}}\right)=-\ln \left(1-{\frac {{W}_{\text{fuel}}}{{\widehat {W}}_{1}}}\right)} As an example, with an overall engine efficiency of 40%,

1720-526: Is again mass. When cruising at a fixed height, a fixed angle of attack and a constant specific fuel consumption, the range becomes: R = 2 c T C L C D 2 2 g ρ S ( W 1 − W 2 ) {\displaystyle R={\frac {2}{c_{T}}}{\sqrt {{\frac {C_{L}}{C_{D}^{2}}}{\frac {2}{g\rho S}}}}\left({\sqrt {W_{1}}}-{\sqrt {W_{2}}}\right)} where

1806-429: Is assumed that the thrust specific fuel consumption is constant as the aircraft weight decreases. This is generally not a good approximation because a significant portion (e.g. 5% to 10%) of the fuel flow does not produce thrust and is instead required for engine "accessories" such as hydraulic pumps , electrical generators , and bleed air powered cabin pressurization systems. This can be accounted for by extending

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1892-404: Is assumed. The relationship D = C D C L W {\displaystyle D={\frac {C_{D}}{C_{L}}}W} is used. The thrust can now be written as: T = D = C D C L W ; {\displaystyle T=D={\frac {C_{D}}{C_{L}}}W;} here W is a force in newtons Jet engines are characterized by

1978-446: Is that interceptors often look very impressive on paper, typically outrunning, outclimbing and outgunning slower fighter designs. However, pure interceptors fare poorly in fighter-to-fighter combat against the same "less capable" designs due to limited maneuverability especially at low altitudes and speeds. In the spectrum of various interceptors, one design approach especially shows sacrifices necessary to achieve decisive benefit in

2064-451: Is the air density , and S the wing area , the specific range is found equal to: V F = 1 c T C L C D 2 2 ρ S W {\displaystyle {\frac {V}{F}}={\frac {1}{c_{T}}}{\sqrt {{\frac {C_{L}}{C_{D}^{2}}}{\frac {2}{\rho SW}}}}} Inserting this into ( 1 ) and assuming only W {\displaystyle W}

2150-628: Is the energy per mass of the battery (e.g. 150-200 Wh/kg for Li-ion batteries), η total {\displaystyle \eta _{\text{total}}} the total efficiency (typically 0.7-0.8 for batteries, motor, gearbox and propeller), L / D {\displaystyle L/D} lift over drag (typically around 18), and the weight ratio W battery / W total {\displaystyle {W_{\text{battery}}}/{W_{\text{total}}}} typically around 0.3. The range of jet aircraft can be derived likewise. Now, quasi-steady level flight

2236-412: Is the speed, and F {\displaystyle F} is the fuel consumption rate, is called the specific range (= range per unit mass of fuel; S.I. units: m/kg). The specific range can now be determined as though the airplane is in quasi-steady-state flight. Here, a difference between jet and propeller-driven aircraft has to be noticed. With propeller-driven propulsion, the level flight speed at

2322-607: Is the weight (force in newtons, if W is the mass in kilograms); g is standard gravity (its exact value varies, but it averages 9.81 m/s ). The range integral, assuming flight at a constant lift to drag ratio, becomes R = η j g c p C L C D ∫ W 2 W 1 d W W {\displaystyle R={\frac {\eta _{j}}{gc_{p}}}{\frac {C_{L}}{C_{D}}}\int _{W_{2}}^{W_{1}}{\frac {dW}{W}}} To obtain an analytic expression for range,

2408-503: Is the zero-fuel mass and W f {\displaystyle W_{f}} the mass of the fuel, the fuel consumption rate per unit time flow F {\displaystyle F} is equal to − d W f d t = − d W d t . {\displaystyle -{\frac {dW_{f}}{dt}}=-{\frac {dW}{dt}}.} The rate of change of aircraft mass with distance R {\displaystyle R}

2494-490: Is varying, the range (in kilometers) becomes: R = 1 c T C L C D 2 2 g ρ S ∫ W 2 W 1 1 W d W ; {\displaystyle R={\frac {1}{c_{T}}}{\sqrt {{\frac {C_{L}}{C_{D}^{2}}}{\frac {2}{g\rho S}}}}\int _{W_{2}}^{W_{1}}{\frac {1}{\sqrt {W}}}dW;} here W {\displaystyle W}

2580-639: The AN/DPN-53 radar carried by the CIM-10 Bomarc surface-to-air missile , which utilized a similar flight profile – steering the missile to its target. Launch could be at distances of up to 160 nautical miles (180 mi; 300 km) from the target; the AN/APQ-81 radar designed for the Missileer was only capable of detecting targets at 120 nautical miles (140 mi; 220 km) range, however

2666-569: The Bendix Corporation received a contract that December for the AAM-N-10 Eagle missile. Eagle was of conventional design for heavy air-to-air missiles of the time, with very low- aspect ratio , nearly delta wing fins of 2-foot-10-inch (0.86 m) span extending the length of the missile's 11-foot-7-inch (3.53 m) body, and a detachable booster stage to allow the missile to accelerate hard at launch before settling into

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2752-645: The Convair F-106 Delta Dart , Sukhoi Su-15 , and English Electric Lightning . Through the 1960s and 1970s, the rapid improvements in design led to most air-superiority and multirole fighters , such as the Grumman F-14 Tomcat and McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle , having the performance to take on the point defense interception role, and the strategic threat moved from bombers to intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs). Dedicated interceptor designs became increasingly rare, with

2838-601: The F-104 Starfighter (initial A version) and the English Electric Lightning . The role of crewed point defense designs was reassigned to uncrewed interceptors— surface-to-air missiles (SAMs)—which first reached an adequate level in 1954–1957. SAM advancements ended the concept of massed high-altitude bomber operations, in favor of penetrators (and later cruise missiles ) flying a combination of techniques colloquially known as "flying below

2924-627: The F-86D and F-89 Scorpion . In the late 1940s ADC started a project to build a much more advanced interceptor under the 1954 interceptor effort, which eventually delivered the F-106 Delta Dart after a lengthy development process. Further replacements were studied, notably the NR-349 proposal during the 1960s, but came to nothing as the USSR strengthened their strategic force with ICBMs. Hence,

3010-838: The General Dynamics–Grumman F-111B and Grumman F-14 Tomcat fighters. Fleet defense fighter An interceptor aircraft , or simply interceptor , is a type of fighter aircraft designed specifically for the defensive interception role against an attacking enemy aircraft, particularly bombers and reconnaissance aircraft . Aircraft that are capable of being or are employed as both "standard" air superiority fighters and as interceptors are sometimes known as fighter-interceptors . There are two general classes of interceptor: light fighters , designed for high performance over short range; and heavy fighters , which are intended to operate over longer ranges , in contested airspace and adverse meteorological conditions . While

3096-554: The Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet , which was the only rocket-powered, crewed military aircraft to see combat. To a lesser degree, the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 , which had heavy armament specifically intended for anti-bomber missions, was also a specialized day interceptor. Night fighters and bomber destroyers are interceptors of the heavy type, although initially they were rarely referred to as such. In

3182-509: The aviation fuel energy storage capacity (chemical or electrical) considering both weight and volume limits. Unpowered aircraft range depends on factors such as cross-country speed and environmental conditions. The range can be seen as the cross-country ground speed multiplied by the maximum time in the air. The fuel time limit for powered aircraft is fixed by the available fuel (considering reserve fuel requirements) and rate of consumption. Some aircraft can gain energy while airborne through

3268-517: The great-circle distance divided by the actual route distance η route = D GC D actual {\displaystyle \eta _{\text{route}}={\frac {D_{\text{GC}}}{D_{\text{actual}}}}} Off-nominal temperatures may be accounted for with a temperature efficiency factor η temp {\displaystyle \eta _{\text{temp}}} (e.g. 99% at 10 deg C above International Standard Atmosphere (ISA) temperature). All of

3354-728: The thrust specific fuel consumption has been adjusted down and the virtual aircraft weight has been adjusted up to maintain the proper fuel flow while making the adjusted thrust specific fuel consumption truly constant (not a function of virtual weight). Then, the modified Breguet range equation becomes R = a M g c ^ T C L C D ln ⁡ W ^ 1 W ^ 2 {\displaystyle R={\frac {aM}{g{\widehat {c}}_{T}}}{\frac {C_{L}}{C_{D}}}\ln {\frac {{\widehat {W}}_{1}}{{\widehat {W}}_{2}}}} The above equation combines

3440-476: The F-106 ended up serving as the primary USAF interceptor into the 1980s. As the F-106 was retired, intercept missions were assigned to the contemporary F-15 and F-16 fighters, among their other roles. The F-16, however, was originally designed for air superiority while evolving into a versatile multirole fighter. The F-15, with its Mach 2.5 maximum speed enabling it to intercept the fastest enemy aircraft (namely

3526-536: The French aviation pioneer, Louis Charles Breguet . It is possible to improve the accuracy of the Breguet range equation by recognizing the limitations of the conventionally used relationships for fuel flow: F = c T T = c T C D C L W {\displaystyle F=c_{T}T=c_{T}{\frac {C_{D}}{C_{L}}}W} In the Breguet range equation, it

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3612-750: The McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom as its primary interceptor from the mid-1970s, with the air defence variant (ADV) of the Panavia Tornado being introduced in the 1980s. The Tornado was eventually replaced with a multirole design, the Eurofighter Typhoon . The Shenyang J-8 is a high-speed, high-altitude Chinese-built single-seat interceptor. Initially designed in the early 1960s to counter US-built B-58 Hustler bombers, F-105 Thunderchief fighter-bombers and Lockheed U-2 reconnaissance planes, it still retains

3698-669: The MiG-25 Foxbat), is also not a pure interceptor as it has exceptional agility for dogfighting based upon the lessons learned from Vietnam; the F-15E Strike Eagle variant adds air interdiction while retaining the interception and air-to-air combat of other F-15s. Presently, the F-22 is the USA's latest combat aircraft that serves in part as an interceptor due to its Mach 2+ speed as well as supercruise capabilities, however it

3784-673: The Soviet (now Russian) inventory is the MiG-31 "Foxhound". Improving on some of the flaws on the proceeding MiG-25, the MiG-31 has better low altitude and low speed performance, in addition to carrying an internal cannon. Russia, despite merging the PVO into the VVS, continues to maintain its dedicated MiG-31 interceptor fleet. In 1937, USAAC lieutenants Gordon P. Saville and Benjamin S. Kelsey devised

3870-462: The UK it led to enormously powerful radars to improve detection time. The introduction of the first useful surface to air missiles in the 1950s obviated the need for fast reaction time interceptors as the missile could launch almost instantly. Air forces increasingly turned to much larger interceptor designs, with enough fuel for longer endurance, leaving the point-defense role to the missiles. This led to

3956-599: The abandonment of a number of short-range designs like the Avro Arrow and Convair F-102 in favor of much larger and longer-ranged designs like the North American F-108 and MiG-25 . In the 1950s and 1960’s during the Cold War , a strong interceptor force was crucial for the opposing superpowers as it was the best means to defend against an unexpected nuclear attack by strategic bombers . Hence, for

4042-470: The ability to 'sprint' at Mach 2+ speeds, and later versions can carry medium-range PL-12/SD-10 MRAAM missiles for interception purposes. The PLAAF/PLANAF currently still operates approximately 300 or so J-8s of various configurations. Several other countries also introduced interceptor designs, although in the 1950s–1960s several planned interceptors never came to fruition, with the expectation that missiles would replace bombers. The Argentine FMA I.Ae. 37

4128-529: The aircraft being nicknamed "Snoopy". However, due to cost issues and concerns about the viability of the slow fleet-defense fighter concept, the Missileer program, including the Eagle, was cancelled in December 1961, before any hardware had been built. Despite the cancellation, however, the design of the Eagle provided data that assisted the development of the AAM-N-11 (later AIM-54 ) Phoenix missile carried by

4214-458: The aircraft themselves. They were first to introduce all-weather avionics , assuring successful operations during night, rain, snow, or fog. Countries that were strategically dependent on surface fleet, most notably US and UK, maintained also fleet defense fighters , such as the F-14 Tomcat . During the Cold War , an entire military service, not just an arm of the pre-existing air force,

4300-686: The assumed fuel flow formula in a simple way where an "adjusted" virtual aircraft gross weight W ^ {\displaystyle {\widehat {W}}} is defined by adding a constant additional "accessory" weight W acc {\displaystyle W_{\text{acc}}} . W ^ = W + W acc {\displaystyle {\widehat {W}}=W+W_{\text{acc}}} F = c ^ T C D C L W ^ {\displaystyle F={\widehat {c}}_{T}{\frac {C_{D}}{C_{L}}}{\widehat {W}}} Here,

4386-697: The bombing raids. Rocket-boosted variants of both of Germany's jet fighters; the Me 262 in its "C" subtype series, all nicknamed "home protector" ( Heimatschützer , in four differing formats) and the planned He 162 E subtype, using one of the same BMW 003R turbojet/rocket "mixed-power" engine as the Me 262C-2b Heimatschützer II , but were never produced in quantity. In the initial stage of Cold War , bombers were expected to attack flying higher and faster, even at transonic speeds. Initial transonic and supersonic fighters had modest internal fuel tanks in their slim fuselages, but

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4472-437: The compressibility on the aerodynamic characteristics of the airplane are neglected as the flight speed reduces during the flight. For jet aircraft operating in the stratosphere (altitude approximately between 11 and 20 km), the speed of sound is approximately constant, hence flying at a fixed angle of attack and constant Mach number requires the aircraft to climb (as weight decreases due to fuel burn), without changing

4558-631: The defending fighters. The Me 163 required an airbase, however, which were soon under constant attack. Following the Emergency Fighter Program , the Germans developed even odder designs, such as the Bachem Ba 349 Natter , which launched vertically and thus eliminated the need for an airbase. In general all these initial German designs proved difficult to operate, often becoming death traps for their pilots, and had little effect on

4644-458: The design emphasis is on range and missile carrying capacity, which together translate into combat endurance, look-down/shoot-down radars good enough to detect and track fast moving interdictors against ground clutter , and the capability to provide guidance to air-to-air missiles (AAM) against these targets. High speed and acceleration was put into long-range and medium-range AAMs, and agility into short range dog fighting AAMs, rather than into

4730-464: The detection zone of early radar systems, time enough for interceptor fighters to start up, climb to altitude and engage the bombers. Ground controlled interception required constant contact between the interceptor and the ground until the bombers became visible to the pilots and nationwide networks like the Dowding system were built in the late 1930s to coordinate these efforts. During World War II

4816-540: The early Cold War era the combination of jet -powered bombers and nuclear weapons created air force demand for highly capable interceptors; it is in regards to this period that the term is perhaps most recognized and used. Cold War-era interceptors became increasingly distinct from their air superiority counterparts, with the former often sacrificing range, endurance, and maneuverability for speed, rate of climb , and armament dedicated to attacking large strategic bombers . Examples of classic interceptors of this era include

4902-405: The effectiveness of interceptor aircraft meant that bombers often needed to be escorted by long range fighter aircraft. Many aircraft were able to be fitted with Aircraft interception radar , further facilitating the interception of enemy aircraft. The introduction of jet power increased flight speeds from around 300 miles per hour (500 km/h) to around 600 miles per hour (1,000 km/h) in

4988-698: The energy characteristics of the fuel with the efficiency of the jet engine. It is often useful to separate these terms. Doing so completes the nondimensionalization of the range equation into fundamental design disciplines of aeronautics . R = Z f a M Z f g c ^ T C L C D ln ⁡ W ^ 1 W ^ 2 {\displaystyle R=Z_{f}{\frac {aM}{Z_{f}g{\widehat {c}}_{T}}}{\frac {C_{L}}{C_{D}}}\ln {\frac {{\widehat {W}}_{1}}{{\widehat {W}}_{2}}}} where giving

5074-405: The environment (e.g. collecting solar energy or through rising air currents from mechanical or thermal lifting) or from in-flight refueling. These aircraft could theoretically have an infinite range. Ferry range means the maximum range that an aircraft engaged in ferry flying can achieve. This usually means maximum fuel load, optionally with extra fuel tanks and minimum equipment. It refers to

5160-464: The event of a war between the Soviet Union and NATO. With the advent of low flying cruise-missiles and high-altitude AA-missiles the flight profile was changed, but regained the interceptor profile with the final version J 35J. Range (aeronautics) The maximal total range is the maximum distance an aircraft can fly between takeoff and landing . Powered aircraft range is limited by

5246-407: The external fuel lines were detached. However, keeping QRA aircraft at this state of readiness was physically and mentally draining to the pilots and was expensive in terms of fuel. As an alternative, longer-range designs with extended loiter times were considered. These area defense interceptors or area defense fighters were in general larger designs intended to stay on lengthy patrol and protect

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5332-426: The final form of the theoretical range equation (not including operational factors such as wind and routing) R = Z f η eng η aero η struc {\displaystyle R=Z_{f}\eta _{\text{eng}}\eta _{\text{aero}}\eta _{\text{struc}}} The geopotential energy height of the fuel is an intensive property . A physical interpretation

5418-653: The interceptor role until it received upgrades in the 1990s for ground attack. Both the fighter and the Phoenix missile were retired in 2006. The British Royal Air Force operated a supersonic day fighter, the English Electric Lightning , alongside the Gloster Javelin in the subsonic night/all-weather role . Efforts to replace the Javelin with a supersonic design under Operational Requirement F.155 came to naught. The UK operated its own, highly adapted version of

5504-598: The interceptor role. Day interceptors have been used in a defensive role since World War I , and are perhaps best known from major actions like the Battle of Britain , when the Supermarine Spitfire and Hawker Hurricane were part of a successful defensive strategy. However, dramatic improvements in both ground-based and airborne radar gave greater flexibility to existing fighters and few later designs were conceived as dedicated day interceptors. Exceptions include

5590-501: The launch aircraft could be cued to a target by an airborne early warning aircraft, launching its missiles to cruise to the target area, where they would use a secondary home-on-jam guidance system for terminal homing. During 1960, a Douglas A3D Skywarrior medium bomber was modified as a testbed for the APQ-81 and was intended to launch AAM-N-10s during the testing phase of the program; the modification, with an enlarged radome, led to

5676-668: The only widely used examples designed after the 1960s being the Panavia Tornado ADV , Mikoyan MiG-25 , Mikoyan MiG-31 , and the Shenyang J-8 . The first interceptor squadrons were formed during World War I to defend London against attacks by Zeppelins and later against fixed-wing long-range bombers . Early units generally used aircraft withdrawn from front-line service, notably the Sopwith Pup . They were told about their target's location before take-off from

5762-437: The operational efficiency factors may be collected into a single term η ops = η route η wind η temp ⋯ {\displaystyle \eta _{\text{ops}}=\eta _{\text{route}}\eta _{\text{wind}}\eta _{\text{temp}}\cdots } While the peak value of a specific range would provide maximum range operation, long-range cruise operation

5848-436: The overall mission time, there were few ways to reduce this. During the Cold War in times of heightened tensions, quick reaction alert (QRA) aircraft were kept piloted, fully fueled and armed, with the engines running at idle on the runway ready to take off. The aircraft being kept topped up with fuel via hoses from underground fuel tanks. If a possible intruder was identified, the aircraft would be ready to take off as soon as

5934-587: The product of individual operational efficiency terms. For example, average wind may be accounted for using the relationship between average GroundSpeed (GS), True AirSpeed (TAS, assumed constant), and average HeadWind (HW) component. η wind = T A S − H W avg T A S = G S avg T A S {\displaystyle \eta _{\text{wind}}={\frac {TAS-HW_{\text{avg}}}{TAS}}={\frac {GS_{\text{avg}}}{TAS}}} Routing efficiency may be defined as

6020-567: The radar". By flying terrain masking low-altitude nap-of-the-earth flight profiles the effective range, and therefore reaction time, of ground-based radar was limited to at best the radar horizon . In the case of ground radar systems this can be countered by placing radar systems on mountain tops to extend the radar horizon, or through placing high performance radars in interceptors or in AWACS aircraft used to direct point defense interceptors. As capabilities continued to improve – especially through

6106-448: The range equation can only be calculated exactly for powered aircraft. It will be derived for both propeller and jet aircraft. If the total mass W {\displaystyle W} of the aircraft at a particular time t {\displaystyle t} is: W = W 0 + W f , {\displaystyle W=W_{0}+W_{f},} where W 0 {\displaystyle W_{0}}

6192-528: The range is obtained from the definite integral below, with t 1 {\displaystyle t_{1}} and t 2 {\displaystyle t_{2}} the start and finish times respectively and W 1 {\displaystyle W_{1}} and W 2 {\displaystyle W_{2}} the initial and final aircraft masses The term V F {\textstyle {\frac {V}{F}}} , where V {\displaystyle V}

6278-404: The role merged with that of the heavy air superiority fighter . The interceptor mission is, by its nature, a difficult one. Consider the desire to protect a single target from attack by long-range bombers. The bombers have the advantage of being able to select the parameters of the mission – attack vector, speed and altitude. This results in an enormous area from which the attack can originate. In

6364-612: The same mass at takeoff and landing. The logarithmic term with weight ratios is replaced by the direct ratio between W battery / W total {\displaystyle W_{\text{battery}}/W_{\text{total}}} R = E ∗ 1 g η total L D W battery W total {\displaystyle R=E^{*}{\frac {1}{g}}\eta _{\text{total}}{\frac {L}{D}}{\frac {W_{\text{battery}}}{W_{\text{total}}}}} where E ∗ {\displaystyle E^{*}}

6450-450: The second type was exemplified historically by specialized night fighter and all-weather interceptor designs, the integration of mid-air refueling, satellite navigation, on-board radar, and beyond visual range (BVR) missile systems since the 1960s has allowed most frontline fighter designs to fill the roles once reserved for specialized night/all-weather fighters. For daytime operations, conventional light fighters have normally filled

6536-436: The single-engine Bell P-39 Airacobra and the twin-engine Lockheed P-38 Lightning . Both aircraft were successful during World War II in standard fighter roles, not specifically assigned to point defense against bombers. From 1946 to 1980 the United States maintained a dedicated Aerospace Defense Command , consisting primarily of dedicated interceptors. Many post-war designs were of limited performance, including designs like

6622-474: The specific heat capacities of air at constant pressure and constant volume respectively. Or R = a M g c T C L C D ln ⁡ W 1 W 2 {\textstyle R={\frac {aM}{gc_{T}}}{\frac {C_{L}}{C_{D}}}\ln {\frac {W_{1}}{W_{2}}}} , also known as the Breguet range equation after

6708-486: The time it takes for the bombers to cross the distance from first detection to being on their targets, the interceptor must be able to start, take off, climb to altitude, maneuver for attack and then attack the bomber. A dedicated interceptor aircraft sacrifices the capabilities of the air superiority fighter and multirole fighter (i.e., countering enemy fighter aircraft in air combat manoeuvring ), by tuning its performance for either fast climbs or high speeds. The result

6794-481: The transport of aircraft without any passengers or cargo. Combat radius is a related measure based on the maximum distance a warplane can travel from its base of operations, accomplish some objective, and return to its original airfield with minimal reserves. For most unpowered aircraft, the maximum flight time is variable, limited by available daylight hours, aircraft design (performance), weather conditions, aircraft potential energy, and pilot endurance. Therefore,

6880-629: The value of the local speed of sound. In this case: V = a M {\displaystyle V=aM} where M {\displaystyle M} is the cruise Mach number and a {\displaystyle a} the speed of sound . W is the weight. The range equation reduces to: R = a M g c T C L C D ∫ W 2 W 1 d W W {\displaystyle R={\frac {aM}{gc_{T}}}{\frac {C_{L}}{C_{D}}}\int _{W_{2}}^{W_{1}}{\frac {dW}{W}}} where

6966-420: The widespread introduction of the jet engine and the adoption of high speed, low level flight profiles, the time available between detection and interception dropped. Most advanced point defence interceptors combined with long-range radars were struggling to keep the reaction time down enough to be effective. Fixed times, like the time needed for the pilot to climb into the cockpit, became an increasing portion of

7052-472: Was a prototype jet fighter developed during the 1950s. It never flew and was cancelled in 1960. The Canadian subsonic Avro Canada CF-100 Canuck served in numbers through 1950s. Its supersonic replacement, the CF-105 Arrow ("Avro Arrow"), was controversially cancelled in 1959. The Swedish Saab 35 Draken was specifically designed for intercepting aircraft passing Swedish airspace at high altitudes in

7138-544: Was designated for deployment of interceptors. The aircraft of the Soviet Air Defence Forces (PVO-S) differed from those of the Soviet Air Forces (VVS) in that they were by no means small or crudely simple, but huge and refined with large, sophisticated radars; they could not take off from grass, only concrete runways; they could not be disassembled and shipped back to a maintenance center in

7224-652: Was designed primarily as a stealth air superiority fighter. In the 1950s, the United States Navy led an unsuccessful F6D Missileer project. Later it launched the development of a large F-111B fleet air defense fighter, but this project was cancelled too. Finally, the role was assigned to the F-14 Tomcat , carrying AIM-54 Phoenix missiles. Like the USAF's F-15, the USN's F-14 was also designed primarily as an air superiority (fighter-to-fighter combat) and F-14s served

7310-522: Was for interceptors as the Commonwealth and American air forces pounded German targets night and day. As the bombing effort grew, notably in early 1944, the Luftwaffe introduced a rocket-powered design, the Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet , in the very-short-range interceptor role. The engine allowed about 7 minutes of powered flight, but offered such tremendous performance that they could fly right by

7396-418: Was standard, and Eagle was designed to be capable of carrying a W42 nuclear warhead . The Eagle utilized midcourse radio command guidance , with signals from the launch aircraft being transmitted to keep the missile on course as it flew an energy-efficient 'lofted' trajectory to the target area. As it neared the target, the AAM-N-10 would switch to active radar homing , its own onboard radar set, derived from

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