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
I’ve never heard those terms before, but one thing the F-15 and F-16 have that the F-18 doesn’t is a thrust-to-weight ratio greater than 1. The ELI5 for that is that they can theoretically accelerate straight up — I know the F-15 can in practice.
The Wikipedia page for [aircraft-specific energy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aircraft_specific_energy) includes this passage:
> Aircraft such as the F-16 Fighting Falcon were designed to be optimized in accordance to the energy-maneuverability theory, allowing for an aircraft to quickly gain aircraft-specific energy as fast as possible.
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