Types of Fighter Jets: The 10 Roles in the US Military, Explained (2026)

The US military flies six types of fighter jet in 2026: air superiority fighters, multirole fighters, strike fighters, carrier-based fighters, STOVL fighters, and electronic attack jets built on a fighter airframe. Four more types, the interceptor, the light fighter, the night fighter and the heavy escort fighter, shaped American airpower and have since been retired or absorbed.

These are roles, not rigid boxes. Most jet fighter planes the US flies today fill two or three of them, which is why the F-35 turns up under multirole, carrier and STOVL at once.

This guide sorts fighters by the job they were built for, then by generation and by service. For which one is best, see our ranking of the best American fighter jets; for bombers, tankers and the rest of the fleet, see our guide to types of military planes.

What Makes a Plane a Fighter Jet?

A fighter is a military aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat. Its job in a war is to destroy enemy aircraft and win control of the sky, so everything else can operate underneath it.

The US designation system writes that into the name. F stands for fighter, and the official definition covers aircraft built to intercept and destroy other aircraft or missiles, including multipurpose jets also designed for ground support.

That last clause matters. It is why a jet that spends most of its combat life bombing targets can still carry an F, and why the types below overlap.

1. Air Superiority Fighters

An air superiority fighter exists to take control of the sky and keep it. Speed, agility, radar and air-to-air missiles come first; ground attack, if it exists at all, comes second.

The F-22A Raptor is the purest American example. It reached initial operating capability in December 2005 and can cruise above Mach 1.5 without afterburner, an ability called supercruise.

In its air-to-air configuration it carries six AIM-120 radar-guided missiles, two AIM-9 infrared missiles and a 20 mm cannon. The Air Force listed 183 Raptors in its total force as of August 2022.

The F-15 Eagle held the job before it. The F-15 first flew in July 1972, and across every air force that flies it the type is credited with more than 100 air-to-air victories and no losses in air-to-air combat.

The last US F-15C/Ds are slated for retirement. Their replacement is the F-15EX Eagle II, first delivered on March 11, 2021, which reaches Mach 2.5 and carries up to 12 air-to-air missiles.

2. Multirole Fighters

A multirole fighter is built from the start to switch between air combat and ground attack. It is the default American fighter today, because one versatile jet is cheaper than a fleet of specialized types.

The F-16 Fighting Falcon is the Air Force’s multirole workhorse. The first operational F-16A reached the 388th Tactical Fighter Wing at Hill Air Force Base, Utah, in January 1979, and the service listed 1,017 F-16C/Ds in September 2021.

It reaches 1,500 mph (2,400 km/h), Mach 2 at altitude, and can pull nine G’s. The Air Force credits it with air combat, suppression of enemy air defenses, close air support and air interdiction.

The F-35A Lightning II is the Air Force’s fifth-generation multirole fighter, declared initially operational on August 2, 2016. It pairs stealth with a 43,000-pound-thrust engine, a Mach 1.6 top speed, more than 1,350 miles (2,170 km) of range on internal fuel and an 18,000-pound (8,160 kg) payload.

Our list of stealth fighter jets puts it alongside the F-22 and its foreign rivals.

3. Strike Fighters (Fighter-Bombers)

A strike fighter, or fighter-bomber, is built or adapted to hit ground targets while keeping enough air-to-air performance to defend itself. Even the F-35 program’s official name, the Joint Strike Fighter, uses the term.

The F-15E Strike Eagle is the classic case. The Air Force describes it as a two-seat, dual-role fighter for all-weather air-to-air and deep interdiction missions, and it entered service in 1989.

The second crew member is what separates it from the single-seat F-15C. It gave up none of the Eagle’s speed, with a top speed of 1,875 mph (3,020 km/h) and a 65,000-foot ceiling.

The Navy calls its F/A-18 Hornet the nation’s first all-weather fighter and attack aircraft. In Desert Storm, Hornets shot down enemy fighters and bombed their targets on the same mission.

The idea is older than the name. The F-4 Phantom II, first flown on May 27, 1958, served as both an interceptor and a fighter-bomber with the Navy, the Marine Corps and the Air Force.

With 5,195 built, it is the most-produced American supersonic military aircraft. The Air Force retired it from combat use in 1996, and its last QF-4 target drones were retired in December 2016.

4. Carrier-Based Fighters

A carrier fighter has to launch by catapult and land with a tailhook on a moving deck at sea. The US Navy flies two of them in 2026.

The F/A-18E/F Super Hornet entered fleet service in 1999 as the replacement for the F-14 Tomcat, and it tops out above Mach 1.8. The Navy’s remaining legacy Hornets were retired in 2019.

The F-35C carrier variant reached initial operating capability with the Navy on February 28, 2019. The Marine Corps flies it too, and expects 56 in its fleet by the end of 2026.

Both are due a successor. The Navy’s sixth-generation F/A-XX will replace the Super Hornet and the Growler; Boeing and Northrop Grumman are the finalists, and the award the Navy targeted for August 2026 had still not been announced by September 10.

Our ranking of the best carrier-based fighter jets sets both American types against other navies’ aircraft.

5. STOVL Fighters

STOVL stands for short takeoff and vertical landing. A STOVL fighter can operate from amphibious assault ships and short strips that a conventional jet cannot use.

The F-35B is the only one left in US service. It was also the first F-35 variant declared operational, reaching initial operating capability with the Marine Corps on July 31, 2015.

The Marines expect 205 F-35Bs by the end of 2026, against a program of record of 280.

Its predecessor, the AV-8B Harrier II, retired on June 3, 2026, when Marine Attack Squadron 223 held its sundown ceremony at MCAS Cherry Point, North Carolina. The Marines had flown Harriers since the AV-8A arrived in 1971.

Strictly, the Harrier was never a fighter. The A in its designation marks it as an attack aircraft, built for close air support of troops on the ground.

6. Electronic Attack Jets

An electronic attack jet jams and targets enemy radars so the rest of a strike package can get through. It is not a fighter by designation, but the Navy’s is built on one.

The EA-18G Growler combines the two-seat F/A-18F Super Hornet with an electronic warfare suite. It reached initial operational capability in September 2009 and first deployed with squadron VAQ-132 in November 2010.

The E in its name is the designation system’s code for special electronic installation. The Growler still carries two AIM-120 missiles for self-defense, which is why it often lands on lists of fighter jets.

7. Interceptors

An interceptor is a fighter designed to catch and destroy approaching enemy aircraft, above all bombers, before they reach their targets. Raw speed and rate of climb come first.

The Cold War was the interceptor’s era, and the F-106 Delta Dart was its peak. Crews called it the Ultimate Interceptor: it reached Mach 2.3, was steered toward Soviet bombers by the SAGE ground-control network, and carried four Falcon missiles plus a nuclear-armed Genie rocket.

It entered service in June 1959, never saw combat, and left the Air National Guard in August 1988. The F-15 began replacing it in 1981, and 194 retired airframes became QF-106 target drones.

For how Mach 2.3 compares with today’s jets, see our list of the fastest fighter jets.

The Navy’s version of the job was fleet defense. The F-14 Tomcat was built to protect carriers with the long-range AIM-54 Phoenix missile, picked up a ground-attack role in the 1990s as the Bombcat, and was retired by the Navy on September 22, 2006.

No dedicated interceptor has served in the US since. The mission is now one job among many for air superiority and multirole fighters.

8. Light Fighters

A light fighter trades range and payload for low cost, simple maintenance and agility. It runs against the trend of American fighter design, which has mostly grown larger and heavier.

Northrop built the F-5 as a privately funded, affordable lightweight fighter, and the prototype went supersonic on its first flight on July 30, 1959. The Air Force took it to Vietnam in 1965 under Operation Skoshi Tiger, flying more than 2,600 sorties in six months.

Today the F-5 serves the US military only as an adversary, playing the enemy in training. Navy squadron VFC-111 flies 18 F-5N/F Tiger IIs, and Marine squadron VMFT-401 flies the type as well.

The light fighter’s biggest legacy is two jets that outgrew the label. The Air Force’s Lightweight Fighter program, built on John Boyd’s energy-maneuverability theory, pitted General Dynamics’ YF-16 against Northrop’s YF-17 in 1974.

9. Night and All-Weather Fighters

A night or all-weather fighter carries radar and navigation equipment so it can find and attack targets in darkness and cloud. For about two decades that made it a separate type, usually with a second crew member to work the radar.

The Northrop P-61 Black Widow was the first US aircraft designed from the outset as a night fighter, with radar built into the airframe. It first flew on May 26, 1942, carried a crew of three and an SCR-720 radar with a range of nearly 5 miles (8 km), and served until 1954.

Jets followed. The F-94 Starfire paired a pilot with a radar operator, was the first operational Air Force fighter with an afterburner, and became the first jet all-weather fighter to enter combat, in Korea.

The F-89 Scorpion and the F-86D Sabre took over from it in the mid-1950s. Then the category dissolved: radar and all-weather avionics became standard, and today’s fighters treat night and bad weather as routine.

10. Heavy and Escort Fighters

A heavy fighter is a large, usually twin-engine fighter with extra fuel and firepower. An escort fighter is one with the range to protect bombers all the way to the target, and in World War II the two ideas overlapped.

The P-38 Lightning was America’s heavy fighter, first flown on January 27, 1939, with 10,037 built. It served as a fighter-bomber, a night fighter and, with drop tanks, a long-range escort.

Its most famous mission came on April 18, 1943, when 16 P-38Gs intercepted and shot down Admiral Yamamoto’s transport over Bougainville. Richard Bong, with 40 victories, and Thomas McGuire, with 38, scored theirs in the P-38.

The P-51 Mustang solved the escort problem over Europe. With drop tanks it could fly with bombers from England to Germany and back, and that changed the air war in 1944.

The last of the line was the F-82 Twin Mustang, a twin-fuselage long-range escort fighter. On June 27, 1950, an F-82 crew scored the first confirmed US aerial victory of the Korean War, and the type retired in 1953.

For the full wartime lineup, see our guide to American fighter planes of WW2. For the modern heavyweights, see our list of the biggest fighter jets.

Fighter Jet Generations, From the P-80 to the F-47

The second way to sort fighters is by generation, a shorthand for the big technology jumps. Five generations are widely recognized, and a sixth is in development. Our deep dive on the five generations of fighter planes walks through each jump.

The F-22 is generally acknowledged as the first fifth-generation fighter, entering service in December 2005. The F-35 followed with the Marine Corps in July 2015.

The sixth generation is under way. Boeing won the Air Force’s F-47 contract in March 2025, and in February 2026 the Air Force said the program was on track for a first flight in 2028.

The service plans to buy more than 185, with a combat radius beyond 1,000 nautical miles and a top speed above Mach 2. Our guide to sixth-generation fighter jets covers the rest of the field.

How to Read a US Fighter Jet Designation

The designation on a US military jet tells you its type before you know anything else about it. Under the 1962 tri-service system, F means fighter, A attack, B bomber, E special electronic installation and R reconnaissance.

A letter in front modifies the mission. The E in EA-18G marks electronic warfare, the RF-4C was an unarmed reconnaissance Phantom, and a Q marks a drone, as in the QF-4 and QF-106 target conversions.

The letter after the number counts versions, so an F-16C is the third major model. The letters I and O are skipped to avoid confusion with 1 and 0.

The F/A-18 breaks the rules. The Navy planned separate F-18 fighter and A-18 attack versions, built one aircraft that could do both, and made the F/A-18 designation official on April 1, 1984.

Older fighters used P, for pursuit. The Air Force switched to F in 1948, which is how the P-51 Mustang became the F-51 and the P-61 became the F-61. Our explainer on aircraft designations decodes the rest.

Which Fighter Jets Each US Service Flies (2026)

The Air Force fleet is the largest and the most stretched. For fiscal 2026 it counts 1,271 combat-coded fighters but only 1,098 primary mission aircraft, 47 short of the 1,145 that federal law requires.

Its fighters average about 27.4 years old. The service is betting on the F-35A and F-15EX to rebuild the fleet, with targets of about 100 F-35As and 24 F-15EXs a year by 2030.

The Marine Corps has retired the Harrier and is replacing its legacy Hornets with F-35s. It expects 261 of them by the end of 2026, 205 Bs and 56 Cs, toward a program of record of 420.