Fastest air-breathing jets?

[Jerry W. Loper]

Apart from the A-11/SR-71 family, the MiG-25 Foxbat, and the XB-70 Valkyrie, what are the world's fastest air-breathing jets that have either flown or at least been on a drawing board?

[tomo pauk]

MiG-31, F-4, F-14, F-15, A-5, TSR - pretty fast birds...

[FLYBOYJ]

Don't forget the F-106

[red admiral]

X-43 is the current fastest reaching M9.68 with a scramjet.

The UK had the BS.1010 pushing ramjet technology and hydrocarbon fuel out to Mach 7. The fastest design postulated was the APD.1019H2 which was a flying wedge scramjet (vertical landing as well) supposed to get up to Mach 10 with a crew of three. More sensible were the Hawker P.1134 studies looking at Mach 4+ with a combined reheated Avon / ramjet powerplant and crew of two.

[FLYBOYJ]

The X-43 is the fastest overall but it is unmanned. The MiG-31 is probably the fastest out of the manned bunch listed.

[Colin1]

I thought the F-111 was supposed to be uncatchable to any Allied interceptor and could only be caught by the MiG-25

[FLYBOYJ]

I thought the F-111 was supposed to be uncatchable to any Allied interceptor and could only be caught by the MiG-25

You beat me to the punch!

[red admiral]

It becomes fairly academic for those sorts of aircraft as redline speed simply depends on what heating loads you're dealing with are where the designers feel the limit is. For MiG-31 it's around M2.8 with others at reduced limits depending on how much aluminium you want to use in the structure.

F-111 is going to be caught fairly easily with a missile shot, which is the main reason speeds have decreased. It's easier and cheaper to design a fast missile than a fast aircraft.

[Colin1]

F-111 is going to be caught fairly easily with a missile shot, which is the main reason speeds have decreased. It's easier and cheaper to design a fast missile than a fast aircraft.

Yes
but that's not the theme of the thread or are these air-breathing missiles?

[Matt308]

Yeah but the scope of the original request is sufficiently vague...

[Matt308]

what are the world's fastest air-breathing jets that have either flown or at least been on a drawing board?

That's a tall order. I even remember a nuclear powered US bomber that was proposed in the 1950s that was supposed to be Mach 3-4 capable and had a... wait for it... battlefield bonus of spewing nuclear radiation as exhaust over the target country.

[Colin1]

...a nuclear powered US bomber that was proposed in the 1950s that was supposed to be Mach 3-4 capable and had a... wait for it... battlefield bonus of spewing nuclear radiation as exhaust over the target country

Not to mention the host nation that it took off from

The gals at Mildenhall and Upper Heyford would've had a field day with that one... until they all keeled over

Difficult to imagine Oxfordshire with a great big ring-fence around it

[Matt308]

As I recall it had conventional jet turbine propulsion and only the dash capability was the dreaded radiation spewing nuclear propulsion. Stupid idea. But then again there are so many.

[The Basket]

Concorde could fly at Mach 2 for extended duration.

[red admiral]

Yes
but that's not the theme of the thread or are these air-breathing missiles?

Good point.

Fastest air breathing jet gets heavily involved with spaceplanes. Fastest pretty much comes down to a spaceplane design that isn't designed to go into space. Some strange examples would be HOTOL or SKYLON. Air breathing engines but space capable.