I heard these terms thrown around in fighter jet communities alot, and I have a basic understanding of what the differences are (I.E turn fighters are able to turn tighter while energy fighters preserve kinetic energy while turning). But I’m still not sure what characteristics inherent in the plane turns a plane into a turn fighter vs an energy fighter. For example, the F/A-18 and F-14 and Su-27 are all considered turn fighters, while the F-16 and F-15 are energy fighters, but they’re all so different in size and design.
In: Engineering
“Turn” fighters emphasize stability at high angles of attack, energy fighters focus on power to weight and g loading. A F-16 can’t turn the nose into as sharp of an angle of attack as an -18, so the 18 can turn inside the 16. But because it has a lower power to weight, the F-16 can accelerate and turn at a higher g load. The turn will have a wide radius, but because the the speed it’ll come around the circle faster. This is why turn fighters dominate at lower speeds and energy fighters at higher speeds.
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