The fourth-generation fighter is a class of jet fighters in service from around 1980 to the present, and represents design concepts of the 1970s. Fourth-generation designs are heavily influenced by lessons learned from the previous generation of combat aircraft. Third-generation fighters were often designed primarily as interceptors, being built around speed and air-to-air missiles. While exceptionally fast in a straight line, many third-generation fighters severely lacked in maneuverability, as doctrine held that traditional dogfighting would be impossible at supersonic speeds. In practice, air-to-air missiles of the time, despite being responsible for the vast majority of air-to-air victories, were relatively unreliable, and combat would quickly become subsonic and close-range. This would leave third-generation fighters vulnerable and ill-equipped, renewing an interest in manoeuvrability for the fourth generation of fighters. Meanwhile, the growing costs of military aircraft in general and the demonstrated success of aircraft such as the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II gave rise to the popularity of multirole combat aircraft in parallel with the advances marking the so-called fourth generation.
An air-to-air missile (AAM) is a missile fired from an aircraft for the purpose of destroying another aircraft. AAMs are typically powered by one or more rocket motors, usually solid fueled but sometimes liquid fueled. Ramjet engines, as used on the Meteor, are emerging as propulsion that will enable future medium- to long-range missiles to maintain higher average speed across their engagement envelope.
The Gulfstream G550 is a business jet aircraft produced by General Dynamics' Gulfstream Aerospace unit in Savannah, Georgia, US. The certification designation is GV-SP. A version with reduced fuel capacity was marketed as the G500. Gulfstream ceased production of the G550 in July 2021.
The Air-to-Air Stinger (ATAS) is an air-to-air missile system developed from the shoulder-launched FIM-92 Stinger, for use on helicopters such as the AH-64 Apache, T129 ATAK, Eurocopter Tiger, and also UAVs such as the MQ-1 Predator. The missile itself is identical to the shoulder-launched Stinger.
A beyond-visual-range missile is an air-to-air missile that is capable of engaging at ranges of 20 nmi (37 km) or beyond. This range has been achieved using dual pulse rocket motors or booster rocket motor and ramjet sustainer motor.
Man-portable air-defense systems are portable surface-to-air missiles. They are guided weapons and are a threat to low-flying aircraft, especially helicopters.
Infrared homing is a passive weapon guidance system which uses the infrared (IR) light emission from a target to track and follow it seamlessly. Missiles which use infrared seeking are often referred to as "heat-seekers" since infrared is radiated strongly by hot bodies. Many objects such as people, vehicle engines and aircraft generate and emit heat and so are especially visible in the infrared wavelengths of light compared to objects in the background.
An infrared search and track (IRST) system is a method for detecting and tracking objects which give off infrared radiation, such as the infrared signatures of jet aircraft and helicopters.
The Raytheon MIM-23 HAWK is an American medium-range surface-to-air missile. It was designed to be a much more mobile counterpart to the MIM-14 Nike Hercules, trading off range and altitude capability for a much smaller size and weight. Its low-level performance was greatly improved over Nike through the adoption of new radars and a continuous wave semi-active radar homing guidance system. It entered service with the US Army in 1959.
Rajendra is a passive electronically scanned array radar developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). It is a multifunction radar, capable of surveillance, tracking and engaging low radar cross section targets. It is a ground surveillance radar and is a great source of surveillance operating at frequency around 20 GHz. It is mainly used to track enemy's installations.
The Dassault Falcon 7X is a large-cabin, 5,950-nautical-mile [nmi] range business jet manufactured by Dassault Aviation, the second largest of its Dassault Falcon line. Unveiled at the 2001 Paris Air Show, its first flight took place on 5 May 2005 and it entered service on 15 June 2007. The Falcon 8X, first delivered on 5 October 2016, is derived from the 7X and has an extended range of 6,450 nmi made possible through engine optimization, aerodynamic refinements as well as an increase in fuel capacity. Featuring an S-duct central engine, the 7X, 8X and the Falcon 900 are the only trijets still in production, as of 2024.
The RBE2 is a multirole radar developed during the 1990s for the Dassault Rafale, a French combat aircraft. The original RBE2 is a passive electronically scanned array. This has since been developed into the RBE2-AA, an active electronically scanned array.
The Type 730 is a Chinese seven-barrelled 30 mm Gatling gun/rotary cannon CIWS. It has a PLA Navy designation H/PJ12. It is mounted in an enclosed automatic turret and directed by radar, and electro-optical tracking systems. The maximum rate of fire is 5800 rd/m, and the effective range is up to 3 km.
The MAA-1 Piranha is a short-range infrared homing missile and the first air-to-air missile developed by Brazil for its Air Force and Navy. It was designed to replace the AIM-9 Sidewinder missile in Brazilian service and has since been exported to Colombia, Indonesia and Pakistan.
The Dassault Falcon 2000 is a business jet produced by French Dassault Aviation, a member of its Falcon business jet line. Developed from the Falcon 900 trijet, the smaller twinjet has less range.
Multiservice tactical brevity codes are codes used by various military forces. The codes' procedure words, a type of voice procedure, are designed to convey complex information with a few words.
A missile approach warningsystem (MAW) is part of the avionics package on some military aircraft. A sensor detects attacking missiles. Its automatic warning cues the pilot to make a defensive maneuver and deploy the available countermeasures to disrupt missile tracking.
The Dassault Rafale is a French twin-engine, canard delta wing, multirole fighter aircraft designed and built by Dassault Aviation. Equipped with a wide range of weapons, the Rafale is intended to perform air supremacy, interdiction, aerial reconnaissance, ground support, in-depth strike, anti-ship strike and nuclear deterrence missions. The Rafale is referred to as an "omnirole" 4.5th generation aircraft by Dassault.
An enhanced flight vision system is an airborne system which provides an image of the scene and displays it to the pilot, in order to provide an image in which the scene and objects in it can be better detected. In other words, an EFVS is a system which provides the pilot with an image which is better than unaided human vision. An EFVS includes imaging sensors such as a color camera, infrared camera or radar, and typically a display for the pilot, which can be a head-mounted display or head-up display. An EFVS may be combined with a synthetic vision system to create a combined vision system.
The EuroFirst Passive Infrared Airborne Track Equipment (PIRATE) is the forward looking infrared (FLIR)/infra-red search and track (IRST) for the Eurofighter Typhoon. It is produced by the EuroFIRST consortium consisting of Leonardo S.p.A. of Italy, Thales Land & Joint Systems of the UK, and Tecnobit of Spain. The system is mounted on the port side of the fuselage, forward of the windscreen and provides passive and thus undetectable and unjammable means of long range surveillance. In addition the system has been shown to locate stealth aircraft at a "significant distance" with further improvements in detection through software updates. PIRATE detects infrared radiation generated from the heat of an aircraft's skin, either through air friction or hot parts such as engines.
