This is a list of fictional aircraft, including fixed-wing aircraft, rotary wing aircraft, and lighter-than-air craft. The aircraft in this list are generally intended to operate in an atmosphere, though a few have been stated as being capable of exoatmospheric or sub-orbital flight as well.
These aircraft appear in notable works of fiction, including novels, stories, films, TV series, animation, video games, comics, and other works. They are either the subject of the work or an important element.
Fighter aircraft are military aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat. In military conflict, the role of fighter aircraft is to establish air superiority of the battlespace. Domination of the airspace above a battlefield permits bombers and attack aircraft to engage in tactical and strategic bombing of enemy targets, and helps prevent the enemy from doing the same.
The Grumman F-14 Tomcat is an American carrier-capable supersonic, twin-engine, two-seat, twin-tail, all-weather-capable variable-sweep wing fighter aircraft. The Tomcat was developed for the United States Navy's Naval Fighter Experimental (VFX) program after the collapse of the General Dynamics-Grumman F-111B project. A large and well-equipped fighter, the F-14 was the first of the American Teen Series fighters, which were designed incorporating air combat experience against MiG fighters during the Vietnam War.
A military aircraft is any fixed-wing or rotary-wing aircraft that is operated by a legal or insurrectionary military of any type. Some military aircraft engage directly in aerial warfare, while others take on support roles:
An interceptor aircraft, or simply interceptor, is a type of fighter aircraft designed specifically for the defensive interception role against an attacking enemy aircraft, particularly bombers and reconnaissance aircraft. Aircraft that are capable of being or are employed as both "standard" air superiority fighters and as interceptors are sometimes known as fighter-interceptors. There are two general classes of interceptor: light fighters, designed for high performance over short range; and heavy fighters, which are intended to operate over longer ranges, in contested airspace and adverse meteorological conditions. While the second type was exemplified historically by specialized night fighter and all-weather interceptor designs, the integration of mid-air refueling, satellite navigation, on-board radar, and beyond visual range (BVR) missile systems since the 1960s has allowed most frontline fighter designs to fill the roles once reserved for specialized night/all-weather fighters.
Northrop Corporation was an American aircraft manufacturer from its formation in 1939 until its 1994 merger with Grumman to form Northrop Grumman. The company is known for its development of the flying wing design, most successfully the B-2 Spirit stealth bomber.
Stealth aircraft are designed to avoid detection using a variety of technologies that reduce reflection/emission of radar, infrared, visible light, radio frequency (RF) spectrum, and audio, collectively known as stealth technology. The F-117 Nighthawk was the first operational aircraft explicitly designed around stealth technology. Other examples of stealth aircraft include the B-2 Spirit, the B-21 Raider, the F-22 Raptor, the F-35 Lightning II, the Chengdu J-20, and the Sukhoi Su-57.
In the Macross Japanese anime series and its English adaptation Robotech, the first mass-produced transforming aerospace fighter mecha is called the VF-1 Valkyrie. The VF-1 Valkyrie is referred to as a "variable fighter" in Macross.
Mirage is a name given to several types of jet aircraft designed by the French company Dassault Aviation, some of which were produced in different variants. Most were supersonic fighters with delta wings. The most successful was the Mirage III in its many variants and derivatives, which were widely produced and modified both by Dassault and by other companies. Some variants were given other names, while some otherwise unrelated types were given the Mirage name.
J-XXJ-X, and XXJ are names applied by Western intelligence agencies to describe programs by the People's Republic of China to develop multiple fifth-generation fighter aircraft. General He Weirong, Chief of Staff of the People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF), stated that China had several such programs underway and that an undesignated fifth-generation fighter developed jointly by Chengdu Aerospace Corporation (CAC) and Shenyang Aerospace Corporation (SAC) would be in service by 2018.
The Sukhoi Su-57 is a twin-engine stealth multirole fighter aircraft developed by Sukhoi. It is the product of the PAK FA programme, which was initiated in 1999 as a more modern and affordable alternative to the MFI. Sukhoi's internal designation for the aircraft is T-50. The Su-57 is the first aircraft in Russian military service designed with stealth technology and is intended to be the basis for a family of stealth combat aircraft.
Ghatak (pronounced: gʰɑːt̪ək; lit. 'Deadly' in Sanskrit), initially designated as Indian Unmanned Strike Air Vehicle (IUSAV), is an autonomous jet powered stealthy unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV), being developed by Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE) of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) for the Indian Air Force. The design work on the UCAV is to be carried out by Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA). Autonomous Unmanned Research Aircraft (AURA) was a tentative name for the UCAV. Details of the project are classified.
Jet fighter generations classify the major technology leaps in the historical development of the jet fighter. Different authorities have identified different technology jumps as the key ones, dividing fighter development into different numbers of generations. Five generations are now widely recognised, with the development of a sixth under way.
The Shenyang J-35 is a series of Chinese twin-engine, all-weather, stealth multirole combat aircraft manufactured by Shenyang Aircraft Corporation (SAC), designed for air superiority and surface strike missions. The aircraft reportedly has two variants, a land-based variant designed for the People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF), and a carrier-based variant optimized for catapult-assisted takeoff (CATOBAR) for the People's Liberation Army Naval Air Force (PLANAF).
The AVIC Dark Sword is a stealthy supersonic unmanned combat aerial vehicle from the People's Republic of China. It is being developed by the Aviation Industry Corporation of China's Shenyang Aircraft Design Institute for the air superiority or deep strike roles. Use as an autonomous wingman for manned aircraft may also be a goal.
The Kratos XQ-58 Valkyrie is an experimental stealth unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) designed and built by Kratos Defense & Security Solutions for the United States Air Force's Low Cost Attritable Strike Demonstrator (LCASD) program, under the USAF Research Laboratory's Low Cost Attritable Aircraft Technology (LCAAT) project portfolio. It was initially designated the XQ-222. The Valkyrie completed its first flight on 5 March 2019 at Yuma Proving Ground, Arizona.
The Sukhoi S-70 Okhotnik-B, also referred to as Hunter-B, is a Russian heavy unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) that was being developed during the 2010s by Sukhoi and Russian Aircraft Corporation MiG. Several prototypes underwent flight testing in 2019–2023 and, as of January 2024, it was projected that production could begin as early as the second half of 2024.
The Bayraktar Kızılelma is a single-engine, low-observable, carrier-capable, jet-powered unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV), currently in development by Turkish defense company Baykar. The aircraft is being developed as part of Project MIUS. The initial Bayraktar Kızılelma (Kızılelma-A) is subsonic. Planned variants are intended to be supersonic, the latter having a twin-engined configuration. It is one of the two Turkish jet-powered stealth UCAV along with TAI Anka-3.
The Chengdu J-36 is a speculative designation given by military analysts to a trijet tailless double-delta winged aircraft under development by the Chengdu Aircraft Corporation (CAC).
Kawamori Shoji named his Valkyrie after the North American XB-70 Valkyrie experimental bomber.