Countries by number of fighters

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Interactive map of number of fighters in each country. Supported countries only.
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Details

A fighter aircraft is one of the most important types of aeroplanes one can find in every army. Its main goal is to take control over the area and make sure that no hostile bombers and support airplanes find its way to confuse enemy ranks. Of course such aircraft requires quite a lot of natural resources as well as great piloting skills to be an excellent help. Nonetheless, we should know why fighters are one of the most essential elements of every nation’s aerial fleet.

Airplane fighters are combat aircraft that have got one primary purpose – to eliminate hostile planes and gain air superiority. What is more, they are also quite crucial when it comes to defending our own fleet – for example the fleet of transporters or bombers. Usually they are heavily armed. This is due to the fact that they have to be able to neutralize enemy fighters. What is more, they are very agile and, because of its targets, fast. We should also bear in mind that every airplane has its own role to play. This is why airplane fighters, contrary to bombers, cannot shoot anything on the ground and they focus on eliminating machines in the air.

Of course there are different types of fighters. A fighter aircraft is a military aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat against other aircraft. The hallmarks of a fighter are its speed, maneuverability, and small size.

They are classified into three categories: air superiority fighters, interceptors and fighter bombers. An air superiority fighter is a type of fighter aircraft designed for entering and seizing control of enemy airspace as a means of establishing complete dominance of one side's air forces over the other side's. Air superiority fighters are designed primarily to effectively engage enemy fighters. An interceptor aircraft is designed specifically to prevent successful missions by enemy aircraft, particularly bombers. A fighter bomber is aircraft with ground attack capabilities.

When describing aircraft fighters, we should remember about the fact that from the Second World War, the idea of how fighters should look like and how they should operate changed. For starters, we will no longer find typical engines inside fighters. In order to increase their speed and improve the agility as well as acceleration, jet-powered fighters appeared. Of course from the moment the World War II ended, there were five generation of jet fighters.

The charts you can see here give you a glimpse of what to expect from each and every country in the world. We made sure that the amount of fighter aircrafts nations possess is counted in the most detailed and precise way it is possible. Obviously, these statistics also reflect the percentages that, as you can guess, give you a glimpse of how many fighting aircrafts the most powerful nation (only in terms of fighter aircrafts) has.

Percentages

Number of fighters in each country

Table of countries by fighters

Chart showing fighter aircraft by country