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
The F-15 and F-16 have what’s called high Ps (P sub S) which is defined as specific excess power. This means they can quickly accelerate and move and there are entire charts or curves that are mapped out that the pilots can use to fly the aircraft at their peak performance.
Something like the F-18 has the Leading Edge Extensions (LEX), others have what are called “chines,” but they perform the same function and help greatly with low speed maneuverability by generating a vortex over the wing which delays airflow separation (stall). If you’ve ever seen the Blue Angels do the low speed pass with the nose really high, that’s the LEXes working their magic.
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