Talk:Fighter aircraft
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Thrust vectoring
Isn't thrust vectoring a feature of Generation 4.5 & Generation 5 fighter jets? (Chunbum Park 14:22, 10 September 2009 (UTC))
- Good question, to which I don't have an immediate answer. It's fair to say that all 4.5/5 generation jets do have additional active flight controls, which involve redirecting airflow or exhaust. Anything that is STVOL, which goes back to the more-or-less 3rd generation Harrier, has to have active controls, although I seem to remember some use ducted fans rather than thrust vectors.
- Techniques such as boundary layer control, where air hitting the leading edge of the wings is piped somewhere else, also are used. Some research is needed; my preliminary checks are conflicting, but it appears that the exhaust nozzle on the F-35A (Air Force) and F-35C (CTOL carrier) are fixed, while the B model (STOVL for Marines and Royal Navy) can be vectored. The F-22 and, I think, the Su-35 do have thrust vectoring.
- Incidentally, some but not all new air-to-air missiles use thrust vectoring. Howard C. Berkowitz 15:53, 10 September 2009 (UTC)