Bright Sword starts with the grenade flat.

Chapter 451: Absolute Advantage of Space Fighters

In fact, the reason why space fighters have a generation gap is that a certain technology has made a major breakthrough.

This has a similar effect to the five generations of fighter jets that Liu Xiu divided before he traveled through time. The algebraic division was due to major breakthroughs in certain technologies.

For example, the first generation of fighter jets were put into service in the 1940s and 1950s. They were subsonic fighter jets equipped with turbojet engines. Even if they could achieve supersonic speeds, they could only do so for a short period of time.

The first generation of fighters entered the jet age from the propeller age. Apart from being faster than piston engine fighters, there was not much change in the use of weapons and equipment. The first generation of fighters had very limited flight performance, with low ceiling, acceleration, and climb rate. The weapon system and onboard electronic equipment were also very simple. The main weapon was the cannon, and close combat was commonplace.

Representative models of its first-generation fighter jets include the MiG-86 and the F-, which are standard first-generation fighter jets.

After the first generation of fighters came the second generation of fighters, which exceeded the speed of sound for the first time and attached great importance to speed, believing that the faster the speed, the stronger the fighter, with a maximum speed of more than twice the speed of sound. The characteristics of this generation of fighters are that the avionics are relatively simple, they can only perform a single mission, and missiles are the main combat weapons.

Representative models of the second-generation fighter jets of the Russian standard include the MiG-21 fighter, the F-105 fighter,
The third-generation fighters have variable-sweep wings, use more complex avionics systems, and are capable of performing multiple tasks. They are classified as the third-generation fighters, while Europe and the United States call them second-generation fighters, so there is a generation difference between the two.

Representative models of its third-generation fighter jets include the MiG-23, MiG-25 and F-4.

The fourth generation fighter, which entered service in the 1970s, uses turbofan engines and has advanced and complex avionics systems, emphasizing the maneuverability of the fighter rather than its flight speed. During this period, aviation technology has become increasingly mature, and fly-by-wire operation systems and relaxed static stability designs have been widely adopted. The weapons and equipment of this generation of fighters are mainly air-to-air missiles and supplemented by aircraft guns. They can perform a variety of tasks and are truly multi-purpose fighters.

Representative models of the fourth-generation fighter jets include the F-18, F-, F, MiG-, Su-, etc.

The fifth generation fighter jets are stealth fighter jets and are currently the most advanced fighter jets. At this time, the 4S performance standards that the fifth generation fighter jets need to have were also proposed, namely stealth, super maneuverability, supersonic cruise capability, and super information advantage.

The biggest feature of the fifth-generation fighter jets compared to the previous generation is the extensive use of stealth technology, vector propulsion technology, and advanced information perception technology. The application of these advanced technologies enables the fifth-generation fighter jets to have high maneuverability and excellent battlefield situation awareness, which is an epoch-making improvement compared to the fourth-generation fighter jets.

Representative models of the fifth-generation fighter jets include the F-22 and F-20.

However, neither the first-generation fighters nor the fifth-generation fighters can be compared with space fighters, even the lowest-level first-generation space fighters that still use chemical energy as power like ordinary fighters.

After all, space fighters have an absolute advantage, and that is altitude. Space fighters can easily fly to an altitude of 20,000 meters or even 200,000 meters without any problem.

Because they do not need to rely on the atmosphere as a combustion aid to carry their own energy to achieve flight.

The maximum climbing altitude of the most advanced fifth-generation F-22 aircraft is only 20,000 meters.

Of course, it is not just that. More importantly, the air-to-air missiles they use in combat also have altitude restrictions.

Although air-to-air missiles use rocket engines, they carry their own oxidizer and fuel and do not need to rely on oxygen in the air to start.

But don't forget what the air-to-air missile uses to guide and change the direction of the missile.

That's right, air-to-air missiles use aerodynamic tail fins or front wings to change the direction of air-to-air missiles. So although some air-to-air missiles have a range of more than 100 kilometers, in fact, that only means that they can hit that far, not 100 kilometers high.

Because once the altitude exceeds 20,000 meters, the thin air makes it more difficult for the aerodynamic directional wing to control the direction and angle of the air-to-air missile.

The most typical example is a piece of news that Liu Xiu saw before traveling through time, which was that Mi Gong dispatched two F-22 fighters to shoot down a weather balloon.

However, they did not take action at the beginning. They waited until the balloon dropped from an altitude of 50,000 meters to an altitude of 15,000 meters before launching an air-to-air missile. It took three missiles to hit the target.

This shows how great the impact of altitude is on fighter jets and air-to-air missiles.

Of course, although the first generation of space fighters are also equipped with missiles similar to air-to-air missiles, the steering of these missiles does not rely on directional wings to change direction.

Instead, it uses a vector nozzle to change direction. Yes, the tail nozzle of the missile's rocket engine can adjust the injection angle to change the direction of the air-to-air missile.

This would allow it to change direction in airless space.

As for why space fighters are a dimensionality reduction attack on ordinary fighters! The simplest reason is that space fighters can attack F-22s at an altitude of meters or even higher like a weather balloon, but F can't do anything about it.

Because of this, space fighters are actually the direction of future development. After all, there is no need to worry about air resistance when flying in space. You must know that no matter which generation of fighters it is, it is very difficult to break through the speed of Mach 3 and the altitude of 30,000 kilometers.

One of the main reasons is that in addition to the lack of oxygen at high altitudes, which makes it impossible for the fighter jets to burn their fuel, higher speeds also mean more heat and greater resistance.

For example, although Mi Gong invented a Blackbird reconnaissance aircraft, its speed and altitude once exceeded 30,000 meters.

But the fact proves that this thing is just a showpiece. After all, who can stand an airplane that only leaks oil?
So soon the famous Blackbird was retired. Therefore, it is meaningless to popularize the sixth-generation fighter in the atmosphere before the material problem is completely solved.

After all, if the speed of a fighter jet in the atmosphere reaches Mach 10, the energy consumed will be much greater than that consumed by flying outside the atmosphere.

What's more, in Liu Xiu's eyes, the future sixth-generation fighter jets are actually space fighter jets. Because of the thermal barrier, no matter how much ordinary fighter jets are strengthened, it will not make much sense.

Of course, the reason why the fifth-generation fighter jets are equipped with space carriers is naturally to maintain high maneuverability. Therefore, even though antimatter energy is used, the range of the fifth-generation fighter jets is still not very far.

After all, given the size and volume of a fighter jet, it is naturally impossible for it to use large amounts of modern hydrogen or antimatter fuel like spacecraft that are hundreds of kilometers long.

However, if the space fighter is made too large and its endurance is increased, it will lose its high maneuverability.

(End of this chapter)