5 Of The Most Agile Fighter Jets In The World

If you were asked to sum up fighter jets in one word, a popular answer would surely be "fast." Sleek and aerodynamic, these models can achieve speeds that would give workhorses like the Boeing 757 nosebleeds just to contemplate. The Mikoyan MiG-25, made in Russia, can achieve a blistering pace of Mach 3.2 — making it the fastest combat jet on the planet, according to Guinness World Records. It's not enough to have raw speed in a fighter's locker, though. It's got to be maneuverable enough to make the best use of this asset.

When it comes to agility among fighter jets, many would think of the iconic Blue Angels, and the thrilling displays performed by the talented pilots of these Boeing F/A -18 Super Hornets. Such jets, more broadly, are some of the most advanced vehicles on Earth in terms of their sophisticated weaponry, advanced avionics, and sheer engine power. Among this crowded class of extraordinary jets, then, it takes some very special performance to stand out as one of the most agile in the world.

"Supermaneuverability," Lockheed Martin posted on LinkedIn in 2023. "When we use this phrase in reference to the F-22, we're talking about the 35,000 pounds of thrust in each engine and advanced surface controls that help it deliver air dominance above other fighter aircraft."

Sophisticated controls and powerful engines, of course, are two of the defining characteristics of fighter jets. The fact is, though, only select models are super maneuverable. One example is the formidable Raptor, the first completed model of which arrived in 1997. A collaborative effort between the expertise of Boeing, Pratt & Whitney, and other aviation heavyweights beyond Lockheed Martin was required to bring the project to life, each building separate elements of the F-22. 

Of course, aircraft manufacturers enjoy boasting of the capacities of their products, but the pilots most experienced with them have a unique insight to offer. In a video for Lockheed Martin on YouTube, Capt. Samuel Larson, also known as "RaZZ," shared his experience with the F-22 Demo Team: "In the demonstration, we really get to showcase the extreme capabilities of the jet," Larson enthused, "extreme angles of attack, extreme thrust, the things it can do ..." 

Some of the aircraft's most extraordinary traits are a result of its thrust vectoring nozzles and the aforementioned thrust. Its dual F119-PW-100s offer 70,000 pounds of thrust between them, also giving it the additional capacity to supercruise. By doing so, the model is rendered less reliant on its wasteful and inefficient afterburners.

Meanwhile, in the British Air Force, there aren't many fighters as maneuverable as the Eurofighter Typhoon. This model takes advantage of one of the key factors in promoting the overall agility of an aircraft: Its high thrust-to-weight ratio. This is critical for both speed and maneuverability, as it results in faster acceleration, as well as higher potential flight speeds. This begins with an engine that has high power despite its relatively low weight, and this was a central tenet to the Eurofighter's design philosophy.  

Eurofighter also notes that input from those who would fly the machine was sought throughout its creation. This resulted in a curious, yet brilliant element of its design.

The given top speed of an aircraft, or any vehicle, only tells a small fraction of the story. It's no use being able to achieve a certain speed, but not safely or practically maintain it. Ultimately, a supersonic aircraft won't be flying supersonically all the time (or anywhere close to that), and truly maneuverable aircraft should be able to excel at both the higher and lower ends of the speed scale. 

The agility of the Eurofighter stems from its ability to do just that. It boasts an airframe that's inherently unstable, which necessitates canards and a quadruplex fly-by-wire system, but keeps the model's performance sleek and impressive at subsonic and supersonic speeds. The upcoming Team Tempest jet, set to replace the Typhoon as a huge upgrade, is currently not expected to enter service for another decade or so — ETA 2035. Until then, the Eurofighter Typhoon's unconventional design lends it to being an extremely agile tool in the Royal Air Force's arsenal.

In the animal kingdom, birds of prey are synonymous with agility. The speeds they attain, the aerial maneuvers they make, and the pinpoint precision of their talon-flashing assaults are as majestic as they are frightening to behold. 

It's very appropriate that some of the world's most capable fighters are named after these formidable birds. You've met the Raptor, now meet the Legend that is the F-15 Eagle. The key to the F-15's agile performance is its enormous thrust, produced again by Pratt & Whitney-developed turbofans. These engines offer 23,450 lbs of thrust apiece, and the aircraft itself is quite light — for an aircraft, that is — at 68,000 lbs. 

This is a combination that offers a lot in the way of agility to an aircraft, and while the F-15 can achieve Mach 2.5 at 1,875 mph, it's equipped to emphasize control as well as speed. The important thing for a fighter is to balance aerodynamic concerns with the ability to hold a sizable array of munitions without compromising performance. The latest version of the F-15 — the F-15EX Eagle II — carries more munitions than any other U.S. Air Force Fighter, with up to 30,000 lbs of capacity.

Touch controls and a digital fly-by-wire system are rather unique additions to this historic fighter family, making it more responsive and agile at lower and higher speeds. These advanced features work in tandem to dramatically boost the F-15 Eagle's versatility and performance.

This Russian jet didn't have the most auspicious start. It arrived in the wake of the rise of one of the U.S. Air Force's greatest threats, the F-16. This model had been in use for four years at the time of the MiG's service debut in 1983. Needless to say, this was a very competitive time for the two superpowers, and it would have been enormously detrimental for either to unleash a new model that was directly outdone by its counterpart. 

The first service version of the MiG 29 was a significant step above the models that the Soviets had previously wielded. The earlier MiG 27 was a single-engine machine that could only achieve a thrust of 25,400 lbs. The afterburner of its engine — an R-29 B-300 — was far too wasteful a way to significantly boost it, and in tandem with its maximum speed of just over the speed of sound, it left the machine rather lacking in pace and power. 

The creators of the MiG 29 strove to break away from its predecessor, developing a model that was capable of flight at around twice the speed of the MiG 27. This was primarily thanks to the dual engine format, which in this case packed in a pair of Isotov RD-33 afterburner engines with a combined output of 36,600 lbs of thrust. 

The MiG also boasted innovations such as the Shchel-3UM-1 on the helmet of the pilot, and a new Phazotron NIIR N019 radar, allowing for targeting and operational flexibility. 

As we've seen, the lack of stability of a Eurofighter Typhoon is managed via digital systems that keep its action smooth. Its instability, curious as it may seem, ultimately keeps it as maneuverable as possible, with its actions continually monitored, calculated, and corrected while in motion. This same principle boosts the performance of the Dassault Rafale, a French multipurpose fighter model renowned for its capabilities.

It boasts a similar delta wing configuration, which can be all the better for maneuverability: These angular wings don't typically weigh as much as their more conventional counterparts, and can perform better at speed as a result of the shape reducing the jet's drag. The Rafale is equipped with two Snecma M88 engines that push it to a combined total of 33,720 pound-force of thrust with the afterburners engaged (or a total of 22,500 pound-force of thrust without them in use). 

Adaptability and agility was pivotal to the creation of the Rafale, because the concept behind it was to serve almost any role air forces need it to fill. Described not as a multirole aircraft, but an "omnirole" one, Dassault Aviation reported that "When the Rafale programme was launched, the French Air Force and French Navy published a joint requirement for an omnirole aircraft that would have to replace the seven types of combat aircraft then in operation." 

As tall an order as this was, the Rafale would ultimately be equipped to do everything from refueling allies, to recon and nuclear deterrence.