Multirole combat aircraft

RAF Tornados. The Panavia Tornado is an example of a Multi-Role Combat Aircraft, and was the original bearer of that title (its project name)

A multirole (or multi-role) combat aircraft is an aircraft that can be used as both a fighter aircraft and a ground attack aircraft. They are lighter and less powerful than air superiority fighters.

A multirole fighter is differentiated from a strike fighter in that the multirole fighter was designed to equally perform both aerial combat and ground attack, while the strike fighter is typically a fighter aircraft that can also employ air-to-ground munitions.

History of the term

Multi-Role Combat Aircraft was the title of a multinational European project in 1968 that became the Panavia Tornado aircraft. During its development, the project had also been briefly called Multi-Role Aircraft (MRA).

Examples

Listed below are examples of multirole combat aircraft and the country where they have been developed:

Region	Country	Aircraft	Notes
Europe	United Kingdom, West Germany and Italy	Panavia Tornado	The original aircraft titled "Multi-Role Combat Aircraft" and to have the word "Multi-Role" in its title
	United Kingdom, Germany Italy and Spain.	Eurofighter Typhoon	Described as a highly agile Air Superiority and Air-to-Surface, multi-role/swing-role fighter" by the manufacturers and user.
	France	Dassault Mirage 2000
		Dassault Rafale	Alternately described as an "omni-role fighter/fighter-bomber" by the manufacturer
	Sweden	SAAB JAS 39 Gripen
North America (NA)	United States (USA)	F-4 Phantom II
		F-16 Fighting Falcon	The F-16 is multirole fighter used by many members of NATO
		F/A-18 Hornet	The 'A' in "F/A" explicitly denotes the joint Attack role of the F/A-18 ('F' = Fighter)
		F-35 Lightning II
Asia	India	HAL Tejas
		HAL HF-24 Marut
	People's Republic of China (PRC)	Shenyang J-11
	People's Republic of China (PRC)	Chengdu J-10
	People's Republic of China (PRC) and Pakistan	JF-17 Thunder
	People's Republic of China (PRC)	Xian JH-7A
	Soviet Union (USSR) and Russia	Mikoyan MiG-29M
	India and Russia	Sukhoi Su-30MKI
	Russia	Sukhoi Su-30MKK	Used by the PLA Air Force ('K' = Kitayski, China)
	Russia	Sukhoi Su-35
	Russia	Mikoyan MiG-35

See also

• Air superiority fighter
• Ground attack aircraft
• Interceptor aircraft
• Strike fighter
• Tactical bomber