National Security Journal on MSN

The F-4 Phantom II Has a Message for Any Air Force on Earth

The F-4 Phantom II began as a U.S. Navy fleet defender and became the West’s do-everything jet: fighter, bomber, ...
National Security Journal on MSN

The Mach 2.2 F-4 Phantom II Fighter Has a Message for Every Air Force on Earth

The F-4 Phantom II, a Mach 2.2 Cold War icon, was initially designed as a U.S. Navy interceptor armed only with missiles, ...

Sixty-Five Years of Air Dominance: A Chronological History of U.S. Fighter Jets

Over the past 80 years, the air forces of the world have ripped through the skies in five generations of jet fighters. The common denominator of all five generations is the jet engine, an invention so ...
The National Interest

The F-4 Phantom Has the World’s Only Gun Kill at Supersonic Speed

With a top speed of Mach 2.2, the F-4’s defining characteristic was world-record speed. Can you name the most widely produced U.S. supersonic military aircraft ever? Answer: the McDonnell Douglas F-4 ...
The National Interest on MSN

A Sensor Upgrade Is Turning the Old Super Hornet into a New Killer

Attack, Experimental VFAX program, the Hornet was intended to replace the former A-7 Corsair II, the Douglas A-4 Skyhawk, and the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom IIs during the Cold War. The Hornet ...