Fighter Jet

Overview

A fighter jet is built to win the fight for control of the air: to detect, out-maneuver, and shoot down other aircraft, and increasingly to strike ground targets as well. Every choice on the airframe trades against agility, speed, sensor reach, and survivability. This aircraft pairs a single afterburning Afterburning Turbofan with a Airframe shaped to reduce its radar signature, an AESA AESA Radar for long-range detection, a quadruplex Fly-by-Wire Flight Controls system that lets it fly at the edge of stability, and a Weapon System carrying guns and missiles. A Cockpit & Life Support with an ejection seat keeps the one pilot alive and in command of all of it.

Propulsion

Thrust decides whether a fighter can climb, accelerate, and sustain a turn, so the Afterburning Turbofan is a low-bypass afterburning turbofan tuned for power over fuel economy. Air enters through serpentine Air Intake (S-duct) S-ducts that hide the compressor face from enemy radar, passes through the Fan Module and the high-pressure High-Pressure Compressor, and burns in an annular Annular Combustor. The High-Pressure Turbine and Low-Pressure Turbine extract work to drive the compressor and fan. For maximum thrust the Afterburner injects raw fuel into the hot exhaust through a Fuel Spray Bar manifold and burns it behind a Flame Holder, and the Variable Exhaust Nozzle varies its throat area with actuated Nozzle Petal petals to match the engine's operating point. A FADEC Engine Control manages the whole engine so the pilot can slam the throttle without stalling the compressor.

Airframe and stealth

The Airframe mixes titanium and composite to survive high g-loads at low weight. The Wing carries a Leading-Edge Flap and an Aileron, while pitch and roll authority at high angle of attack comes from an all-moving All-Moving Horizontal Tail. Low observability is shaped into the structure: aligned edges, buried intakes, internal weapon carriage, and a Radar-Absorbent Coating radar-absorbent coating over the skin. Stealth is a design discipline rather than a single part, so the Internal Weapons Bay weapons bays and the flush antennas matter as much as the coating.

Avionics and sensors

The Avionics Suite suite is what turns a fast airplane into a weapon. The AESA Radar uses around a thousand gallium-nitride T/R Module modules to steer its beam electronically, tracking many targets at once and resisting jamming. A passive Infrared Search & Track infrared search-and-track finds targets that run with their own radars off. The Electronic Warfare Suite electronic warfare system combines a Radar Warning Receiver radar warning receiver, a Self-Protection Jammer, and a Chaff/Flare Dispenser for chaff and flares. A redundant Mission Computer fuses these feeds and a Tactical Datalink shares the picture with other aircraft, so a flight of fighters sees as one.

Flight controls

A modern fighter is deliberately unstable in pitch, which makes it agile but impossible to fly by hand. A Fly-by-Wire Flight Controls system with four redundant Flight Control Computer channels reads the pilot's HOTAS Controls inputs and the IMU (6-axis) motion sensors, then commands the Surface Hydraulic Actuator hydraulic actuators hundreds of times a second to hold the aircraft where the pilot points it. The same system enforces the +9 g limit so the airframe is never overstressed, and it keeps the jet controllable at high angles of attack where an older aircraft would depart into a spin.

Cockpit and survivability

The Cockpit & Life Support gives one pilot command of the whole system through a Head-Up Display head-up display, three Multifunction Display multifunction displays, and a Helmet-Mounted Display that projects targeting symbols onto the visor so the pilot can aim a missile by looking at the target. An Onboard Oxygen Generator onboard oxygen generator removes the need for liquid oxygen bottles. If the aircraft is lost, the zero-zero Ejection Seat fires a Rocket Catapult to throw the pilot clear even at zero speed and zero altitude, then deploys a Seat Parachute automatically.

Armament, landing gear, and systems

The Weapon System carries an internal rotary Rotary Cannon for close combat and a mix of missiles and bombs on eleven Wing Hardpoint hardpoints plus the internal bays. A Stores Management System computer arms, selects, and releases each weapon. The Landing Gear is a reinforced tricycle layout with carbon Carbon Wheel Brake brakes and an Arrestor Hook for emergency runway arresting. Two engine-driven Integrated Drive Generator generators feed the Electrical System system, and dual Hydraulic System systems at 4,000 psi power the flight controls and gear. Roles split across variants: an air-superiority fit emphasizes radar and missiles, a strike fit adds targeting pods and ground-attack stores, and a carrier variant strengthens the gear and adds the arrestor hook and folding wings. Pilots train for years to use the airframe's full envelope, because the aircraft can pull more g and point its nose faster than an untrained body can withstand or a careless hand can manage.