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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 specialised night/all-weather fighters.
The McDonnell F-101 Voodoo is a supersonic jet fighter which served the United States Air Force (USAF) and the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF).
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The Century Series is a popular name for a group of US fighter aircraft representing models designated between F-100 and F-106 which went into full production. They included the first successful supersonic aircraft designs in the United States Air Force's service, which remained in active service well into the 1970s and 1980s with the Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard. Three later variants, the QF-100, QF-102 and QF-106, also continued in service, primarily as aerial target drones, until the late 1990s. The F-104G stayed in service with the Italian military until 2004. The NASA airborne science program maintains a group of F-104G in airworthy condition for use as test platforms and chase aircraft.
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WS-201A, informally known as the 1954 Interceptor, was a United States Air Force project to develop a dedicated interceptor aircraft that would enter service in 1954. Several aircraft were developed as part of the project, leading to the F-102 Delta Dagger, F-106 Delta Dart, Republic XF-103 and, indirectly, the F-101B Voodoo and F-104 Starfighter. The electronics and weapons developed for the program would become common on US designs, including the AIM-4 Falcon missile and a variety of Hughes Aircraft-supplied radar and fire control systems. The project also led, eventually, to the upgrading of the SAGE battle control computers to directly control the interceptors for much of their flight. Although greatly delayed, the resulting systems operated for approximately 20 years, into the 1980s.
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References
- ↑ "USAF Air Materiel Command Design 938A Penetration Fighter Study of 1948"
- ↑ "F-101 'Voodoo'", globalsecurity.org (retrieved 22 January 2020): "In 1953, AAC altered the requirement to a strategic fighter capable of delivering nuclear weapons, causing diversions, and fighting off enemy interceptors. McDonnell Aircraft corporation redesigned the XF-88 to carry larger engines, lengthened the fuselage to provide additional fuel storage, and submitted its strategic fighter proposal. The new aircraft, designated the F-101A, was the first Air Force fighter designed to be supersonic."
- ↑ Green & Swanborough (1994), p.367: "Evolved from the XF-88 by a team led by E M Flesh as a deep penetration escort fighter, the Voodoo..."
- ↑ Robert Lyons Jr., "The Search For An Advanced Fighter", US Air Force Air Command and Staff College, 1986
- ↑ "Fact Sheet: North American F-108A Rapier" Archived 2014-12-28 at the Wayback Machine , National Museum of the United States Air Force