List of fictional military aircraft

This article refers to fictional military aircraft that are usually conjectured variants of real-world vehicles.

Aurora

The "Aurora" is a secret hypersonic military aircraft from the movie Aurora: Operation Intercept. It is very similar to what aviation experts assume to be the Aurora aircraft. In the movie, it is being stolen by a Russian terrorist who tries to destroy the White House. The propulsion system is a "combined cycle" conventional/scramjet engine.

EB-52 Megafortress

The EB-52 Megafortress is a fictitious Bomber in most of the Dale Brown books. This aircraft is a variant of the B-52 Stratofortress, used by the U.S Air Force. The Megafortress first appears in Dale Brown's Flight of the Old Dog and is expanded and upgraded in all his later books. The Megafortress has all the latest technology (such as an advanced on-board computer and detailed HUD) and carries all the latest weapons, such as the AIM-7 Sparrow, AIM-9 Sidewinder, AIM-120 AMRAAM, Air-to-surface missiles, Anti-ship missiles, Anti-tank guided missiles and other advanced missiles such as plasma weapons. In later books, the eight engines of the B-52A-H are replaced by four larger and more powerful turbofans (incidentally, this is an upgrade that has been considered for the real-world B-52H fleet).

In Flight of the Old Dog, the aircraft is designated the B-52I. The EB-52 designation is first used in Sky Masters.

In the real world, the EB-52H, or B-52J is a planned upgrade to the USAF's current fleet of Stratofortresses, allowing them to act as "stand-off jammers," with jamming pods replacing the B-52's wing-mounted external fuel tanks.

Variants

• B-52I Megafortress (Flight of the Old Dog)
• B-52M Megafortress Plus (Day of the Cheetah)
• EB-52C Megafortress (Sky Masters)

Messerschmitt Me 263

This is about a fictional variant. For the real aircraft of this designation, see Messerschmitt Me 263

The Messerschmitt Me 263 is a fictional jet fighter aircraft in the movie Aces: Iron Eagle III, supposedly developed by the Germans towards the end of World War II and flown by the drug-dealing ex-Nazi villain. It is in fact a Scaled Composites ARES.

MiG-28

The Mikoyan MiG-28 (NATO reporting name unknown) is a fictional aircraft in the 1986 movie Top Gun, as well as the 1978 book The Sinkiang Executive.

Top Gun

As depicted in the movie Top Gun, the MiG-28 pilots excelled in masking their true numbers on enemy radar by flying in extremely close formation.

Northrop F-5 Freedom Fighter aircraft were disguised for the movie for use as MiGs by being painted black with a red star inside a yellow ring on the tail. While the identity of "the Enemy" is not stated in the movie, it is often assumed to be the Soviet Union or another nearby Communist state such as North Korea. Since the carrier is stated to be "somewhere in the Indian Ocean" during Top Gun's opening scene, a more likely explanation is that the Caucasian pilots seen in the movie were Soviet advisors flying for India, South Yemen or Mozambique, all Soviet-supplied during the mid-1980s. It is also possible that these are representative of new Soviet Carrier-operated aircraft since the Soviet Union operated Aircraft Carriers since the 1960s and maintains vital, Siberia-bound supply routes through the Indian Ocean. A possible explanation for the MiG-28's resemblance to the F-5 is that the enemy fighters were Soviet copies of western aircraft(as in the case of the Tupolev Tu-4). In reality, while F-5Es taken from Vietnam were tested in the USSR[1], the airplanes were found to simply be "efficient" but otherwise of no use to Soviet industry.

The Sinkiang Executive

In the book The Sinkiang Executive written by Adam Hall, the MiG-28D is an aircraft resembling a somewhat modified MiG-25 with sharper air intakes and swept wings. The fictional NATO reporting name assigned to the MiG-28D is Finback.

It should be noted that the designation "MiG-28" is inconsistent with NATO's practice of giving Soviet fighter designs odd numbers; this may have been done so that that the aircraft's appearance couldn't possibly contradict any future MiG fighters.

MiG-31

For the real aircraft of this designation, see Mikoyan MiG-31

The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-31 (МиГ-31 in Cyrillic script, fictional NATO reporting name Firefox) is a fictional aircraft in the novels Firefox (and the subsequent movie) and Firefox Down, both written by Craig Thomas.

The MiG-31 is an interceptor capable of stealth (limited because of the powerful engines) and hypersonic flight. It allows the pilot to control weapons and other flight systems via thought, with the caveat that the system only understands thoughts in the Russian language, leading to the training mantra for foreign pilots: "Think in Russian!" Two production prototypes were built before it was to be deployed into active service for the Soviet Air Force. The first prototype was stolen by Mitchell Gant operating on behalf of the Western intelligence community. The second prototype intercepted Gant and the two aircraft entered into combat with each other with the prototype piloted by Gant emerging victorious and the second being destroyed.

In Firefox Down, the first prototype's fuel lines were ruptured in the dogfight that concluded the previous novel and the aircraft crash lands in Finland. One of the plot lines of Firefox Down is the race between the Soviets and Western Intelligence to recover the aircraft submerged in a frozen Finnish lake.

MiG-37

The Mikoyan MiG-37 (fictional NATO reporting name Ferret E) is a fictional stealth aircraft produced in kit form by Italian model manufacturer Italeri, in co-operation with American model company Testors.

The MiG-37 is a stealth fighter designed using advances in technology from the Soviet Union's space and aviation programmes as a reaction to the American F-19 stealth project.

External links

• Italeri product page
• Model review
• Model review

F/A-37 Talon

The F/A-37 Talon is a fictional advanced fighter jet in the 2005 film Stealth. The Talon is capable of hypersonic flight with a combination Pulse detonation engine / Scramjet. The Talon is stealthy, has a variable wing, and an internal rotary launcher for ordnance. It has a quantum computer capable of making damage assessments, not just on enemy forces, but on collateral and civilian casualties as well. The computer can make complex calculations, like estimate nuclear fallout.

EDI

The Extreme Deep Invader (EDI) is a modified Talon. Among the new features are V/STOL capability, a cermet exoskeleton, and aeroelastic wings. The engine is described as a Pulse Detonation Engine with twin hybrid scramjet turbos fueled by catalyzed A1 methane. Its computer is more powerful than a standard Talon's at 10 terabytes per second, and it has an Artificial Intelligence system. EDI is capable of identifying a target 5 miles away or by using a satellite uplink. EDI can identify a target by fingerprints, voice analysis, or by face recognition.

The design of the Talon is most likely based on the Northrop Switchblade, a concept fighter jet. The real life Talon, however, is a two-seat Mach-1.3 supersonic trainer named T-38 Talon, also by Northrop.

External links

• "Fake F/A-37 Talon" at AeroSpaceWeb.org
• Image of an F/A-37 Talon at Gares Designs & Creations

Phantom X-19

The Phantom X-19 is a fictional aircraft from the G.I. Joe line of toys, comic books and cartoon series. It is the combination of a stealth fighter and stealth bomber aircraft and used by the fictional US Air Force of that universe. Its purpose is to use strike and destroy Cobra targets of interest. It is the preferred aircraft of the G.I. Joe pilot known as "Ghostrider". The Phantom is armed with twin Sparrow missiles, laser-guided bombs, and twin machine guns.

Savoia S.21

The Savoia S.21 is a fictional seaplane fighter that appears in the anime film Porco Rosso, directed by Hayao Miyazaki.

While the plane depicted in the movie never existed, Savoia was an actual Italian aircraft maker which produced a considerable number of flying boats in the 1920s, during which the movie is set. An actual Savoia S.21 even existed, though the fictional one does not closely resemble it -- the Macchi M.33 is probably the closest real-life match.

The S.21 was a custom-built fighter seaplane with a single parasol wing, above which was mounted a single engine nacelle. It had a flying-boat hull and outrigger floats, and carried two machine guns in the nose. In the film, there are two versions of the S.21. The initial version was powered by a Isotta-Fraschini Asso liquid-cooled V-12 engine; the later version mounted a Fiat A.S.2 "Folgore" V-12 with a modified radiator configuration. In addition to the engine, the new version had a tiny forward cockpit. In The Age of the Flying Boat, the book on which the movie is based, the modified version takes a Rolls-Royce Kestrel engine. The aircraft was painted bright red with Italian tricolor stripes on the wings and tail.

Specifications

• Crew: initial version, 1 pilot; second version, additional 1 passenger
• Length: 7.92m
• Wingspan: 10m
• Powerplant: 430HP
• Maximum Speed: 330km/h
• 2 × 7.92mm Spandau machine guns

Scorpion Attack Helicopter

The Scorpion Attack Helicopter is a fictional attack helicopter of unspecified origin that appears in the 1990 movie Fire Birds. At least one of the type was shown being used by a South American drug cartel and piloted by highly skilled mercenaries, along with a pair of Saab Draken jet fighters. The Scorpion has superior agility and speed compared to most other helicopters, notabaly the AH-1 Cobra and the UH-60 Black Hawk, easily destroying the aforementioned helicopters. Armed with unguided rockets and machine guns, it is roughly equal in air combat capabilities to the AH-64 Apache.

The real helicopter used for the film is a Hughes H-6 derivative, probably a Boeing MD500 Defender. It was fitted with weapon pods and a nose mounted scope.

Super Apache

The Super Apache is a fictional attack helicopter type developed from the AH-64 Apache. It appears in the Strike series of video games by Electronic Arts, specifically Soviet Strike and Nuclear Strike. Designed for special operations, the Super Apache serves as the player's primary vehicle.

The Super Apache, which looks identical to its real-world counterpart, is also a sophisticated two-seat attack helicopter armed with advanced electronics and air-ground weapons. However, to aid gameplay, there are some notable enhancments:

• Optional AIM-9 Sidewinder missiles. There have been proposals to equip the real AH-64 with Sidewinder missiles. So far, no real Apaches have been equipped with the AIM-9.
• Self-repairing "smart armor" that repairs and re-aligns damaged portions of the helicopter.
• A passenger compartment capable of carrying up to six people. It is also accessible from the cockpit. In order to have room for the passengers the Super Apache must be significantly larger than the real-world apache, since it looks identical externally. This makes the Super Apache similar to the real Mil Mi-28 Havoc, which has a small cargo compartment, intended to be used for rescue.
• A cargo winch to load passengers, fuel, and ammunition. The Super Apache also has significant load-carrying abilities, capable of carrying loads as heavy as multiple ICBMs.
• Unlike the "normal" AH-64, the Super Apache does not need a separate gunner. It only requires one pilot to operate and engage the enemy effectively. The second crew member seems to simply be a co-pilot.

Remarkably, the Super Apache appears to lack the fire control Radar seen on the AH-64D Longbow. Instead, it relies on sophisticated communications systems (called Strike-Net) and unseen assets such as AWACS and Satellite imagery.

There is also a navalized variant called the "Sea Apache," capable of carrying naval mines. It can be deployed from Sea Shadow-type warships.

B-3

The B-3 is a fictional advanced stealth bomber modeled after the B-2 Spirit in the movie Broken Arrow.