One Step Ahead, pt II

PART II

The history of flight has largely been shaped by conflict – actual or potential. Being anything less than a step ahead of one’s opponent is an unacceptable alternative. To stay ahead requires major leaps, to gain time while others try to catch up. Of all the variables that have changed the history of flight, none is more influential than power. This is the story of how power has shaped the new generation of fighting planes.

Almost all Western experts agree that the F-15 and the F-16 are the finest fighters in the world. Neither has the top speed present technology is capable of achieving, and the Russian MiG-25 can fly faster at high altitudes. But at the speeds and altitudes where the adversaries are likely to meet, the American planes are faster and more maneuverable than the MiG-25 and their most likely opponents, the MiG-21 and MiG-23. In both cases, their superiority would be impossible without the extraordinarily high thrust-to-weight ratio to the Pratt & Whitney F1oo engine.

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