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Multirole combat aircraft

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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.[1][2]
 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

References

  1. ^ Eurofighter Typhoon is a highly agile Air Superiority and Air-to-Surface, multi-role/swing-role weapon system
  2. ^ RAF: F2 standard will be deployed primarily as air-superiority fighters

See also


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