Fastest Fighter Aircraft

The fastest fighter aircraft in the world is the MiG-25P Fioxbat-A. It has a top speed of Mach 3. This is equal to 3,500 km/h or 2,170 mph. The X-15 can reach Mach 6, but it isn’t a fighter plane.

Performance

When flying at low altitudes, the MiG-25P has a top speed of 1,200 km/h (650 knots, 740 mph). its range is 1,730 km (935 nmi, 1,075 mi). The ferry range is 1,730 km (935 nmi, 1,075 mi).

The service ceiling is 80,000 ft (24.4 km) for the RB models. Equipped with 4 missiles, it is 20,700 m. It has a rate of climb of 208 m/s 40,950 ft (12,480 m / min).

The wing loading range is 598 kg/m2 (122.5 lb/ft2). The thrust / weight is 0.41. The time to altitude is 8.9 min to 20,000 m (65,615 ft).

Armament and Avionics

The fastest fighter aircraft has two infrared-guided R-40T missiles and two radar-guided R-40R (AA-6 "Acrid") air-to-air missiles. The avionics may consist of RV-4 radar altimeter and RV-4 radar altimeter.

General Characteristics

The MiG-25P is 19.75 m (64 ft 10 in) long and has a wingspan of 14.01 m (45 ft 11.5 in). The wing area is 61.40 m2 (660.93 ft2). The empty weight is 20,000 kg (44,080 lb). The loaded weight is 36,720 kg (80,952 lb).

Its powerplant consists of two Tumansky R-15B-300 afterburning turbojets. The dry thrust is 73.5 kN (16,524 lbf) each. The thrust with the afterburner is 100.1 kN (22,494 lbf) each.

Records Set by the MiG

The MIG-25 would set several records. One of the first records it set involved payloads of 1,000 and 2,000 kg. Even with these payloads the aircraft was able to sustain average speeds of 2,319.12 km/h on a 1,000 km run. This was set on March 16, 1965.

Pilot Mikhail M. Komarov flew the MiG-25 without payloads and averaged a speed of 2,982.5 km/h. This was attained in 1967. That same period, A. Fedotov attained an altitude of 29,977 m carrying a payload of over 1,000 kg.

The MiG also became the first aircraft to reach an altitude of over 35,000 feet. On June 4, 1973, the MiG reached 20,000 m on 2 min 49.8 sec. The aircraft was piloted by Boris A. Orlov.

On that same date, the fastest fighter aircraft got to 25,000 ft in 3 min 12.6 seconds. It reached 30,000 m in 4 minutes 3.86 seconds.