the seven fastest jets ever used by military
forces
jet aircraft are some of the most impressive machines to ever be built by humans
what was once a fantasy and ridiculous to seriously consider became a reality with
the wright brothers first flight ever since then the battle for speed started raging
as airplanes evolved throughout world war ii top speeds increased and increased the advent
of the jet engine dumped fuel on that raging fire pushing aircraft to new extremes of speed
further accelerated by the start of the cold war military forces saw that growing capability for
speed as something to dive into and take to the next level once the sound barrier was shattered
by chuck yeager and the x1 rocket plane in 1947 supersonic flight became the norm an aircraft
began clocking top speeds that just a decade prior would have been assumed to be a joke
things only got faster from there flying straight into the realm of unbelievable
so watch on to c7 of the fastest jet aircraft ever to enter military service
mcdonald douglas f4 phantom 2
the f4 phantom 2 was a groundbreaking aircraft paving the way for decades of multi-role dominance
as it served an incredibly long service life that longevity was a direct result of the f performance
and versatility breaking 16 world records when the prototype began serious testing in 1959
among those records was speed hitting an incredible 1604 miles per hour
general dynamics f-111 aardvark
a product of 1960s engineering the f-111 aardvark
set out to fill a role of a heavy fighter with multi-role capabilities and unmatched speed
the f1 11's party trick was its wings being able to extend or retract their angle for optimal
stability at low speeds or unimpeded performance at high speed that performance boost gave it a
top speed of mach 2.5 around 1 650 miles per hour an incredible number still to this day
mccoy and gyrovich mig-31 foxhound one of the most brutal interceptors ever built the mig-31
foxhound built upon its fox bat predecessors formula of raw power forcing the jet through
the air like a sledgehammer but added on more refined electronics and weaponry to
make the jet competitive in modern times with a top speed of 1864 miles per hour
this monster remains one of the fastest interceptors of all time
mcdonald douglas f-15e strike eagle
the f-15 eagle has served a long and iconic service life with air forces worldwide
having never suffered a combat loss the f-15 eagle is one hell of a multi-role fighter
already but when upgraded to the strike eagle it gets even more powerful with advanced weapon
systems and engines the strike eagle can hit a ridiculous top speed of 1875 miles per hour
mccoy and gyrovich mig-25 foxbat
while more primitive in its construction compared to the mig-31 which replaced it
the mig-25 interceptor still holds a higher top speed record with more sensors packed in
the mig-31 is more refined but sacrifices a bit of speed while the mig-25 blasts on to an insane top
speed of 1920 miles per hour although if pushed to its literal breaking point the mig-25 could go
even faster and briefly reach a similar top speed to the sr-71 blackbird it was tasked to hunt down
lockheed martin sr-71 blackbird still the king of speed after decades of being out of service
the sr-71 is the undisputed fastest jet-powered aircraft to ever fly while some aircraft like
the mig-25 could hit mach 3 the sr-71 was the only jet to be able to comfortably fly
for hours at such insane speed specifically a top speed of mach 3.3 or 2193 miles per
hour using that speed to its advantage sr-71s ran top-secret reconnaissance missions with absolute
invincibility outrunning any missiles that were fired at it or interceptors that tried to catch it
lockheed martin a12 oxcot while the sr-71 went on to be a well-known legend of speed
the plane it was developed from the 812 oxcot
managed to go slightly faster but without receiving the same attention
why because it was operated exclusively by the cia carrying even more sensitive secrets than the
us air force base sr-71 and remaining out of the spotlight even when declassified but it absolutely
deserves the same attention as it set an even faster recorded top speed of 2208 miles per
hour