Strike fighter in the context of "Strategic bomber"

A fighter-bomber is a fighter aircraft that has been modified, or used primarily, as a light bomber or attack aircraft. It differs from bomber and attack aircraft primarily in its origins, as a fighter that has been adapted into other roles, whereas bombers and attack aircraft are developed specifically for bombing and attack roles.

Although still used, the term fighter-bomber has less significance since the introduction of rockets and guided missiles into aerial warfare. Modern aircraft with similar duties are now typically called multirole combat aircraft or strike fighters.

An attack aircraft, strike aircraft, or attack bomber is a tactical military aircraft that has a primary role of carrying out airstrikes with greater precision than bombers, and is prepared to encounter strong low-level air defenses while pressing the attack. This class of aircraft is designed mostly for close air support and naval air-to-surface missions, overlapping the tactical bomber mission. Designs dedicated to non-naval roles are often known as ground-attack aircraft.

Fighter aircraft often carry out the attack role, although they would not be considered attack aircraft per se; fighter-bomber conversions of those same aircraft would be considered part of the class. Strike fighters, which have effectively replaced the fighter-bomber and light bomber concepts, also differ little from the broad concept of an attack aircraft.

The Boeing F/A-18E and F/A-18F Super Hornet are a series of American supersonic twin-engine, carrier-capable, multirole fighter aircraft derived from the McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet. The Super Hornet is in service with the armed forces of the United States, Australia, and Kuwait. The F/A-18E single-seat and F tandem-seat variants are larger and more advanced versions of the F/A-18C and D Hornet, respectively.

A strike fighter capable of air-to-air and air-to-ground/surface missions, the Super Hornet has an internal 20 mm M61A2 rotary cannon and can carry air-to-air missiles, air-to-surface missiles, and a variety of other weapons. Additional fuel can be carried in up to five external fuel tanks and the aircraft can be configured as an airborne tanker by adding an external air-to-air refueling system. Designed and initially produced by McDonnell Douglas, the Super Hornet first flew in 1995. Low-rate production began in early 1997, reaching full-rate production in September 1997, after the merger of McDonnell Douglas and Boeing the previous month. An electronic warfare variant, the EA-18G Growler, was also developed. Although officially named "Super Hornet", it is commonly referred to as "Rhino" within the United States Navy.

The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II is an American family of single-seat, single-engine, supersonic stealth strike fighters. A multirole combat aircraft designed for both air superiority and strike missions, it also has electronic warfare and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capabilities. Lockheed Martin is the prime F-35 contractor with principal partners Northrop Grumman and BAE Systems. The aircraft has three main variants: the conventional takeoff and landing (CTOL) F-35A, the short take-off and vertical-landing (STOVL) F-35B, and the carrier variant (CV) catapult-assisted take-off but arrested recovery (CATOBAR) F-35C.

The aircraft descends from the Lockheed Martin X-35, which in 2001 beat the Boeing X-32 to win the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program intended to replace the F-16 Fighting Falcon, F/A-18 Hornet, and the McDonnell Douglas AV-8B Harrier II "jump jet", among others. Its development is primarily funded by the United States, with additional funding from program partner countries from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and close U.S. allies, including Australia, Canada, Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, the United Kingdom, and formerly Turkey. Several other countries have also ordered, or are considering ordering, the aircraft.

The Lockheed Martin Corporation is an American defense and aerospace manufacturer. It is headquartered in North Bethesda, Maryland, United States. The company was formed by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta on March 15, 1995.

Lockheed Martin operates 4 divisions: Lockheed Martin Aeronautics (39% of 2024 revenues), which includes Skunk Works, the F-35 Lightning II strike fighter, the Lockheed C-130 Hercules military transport aircraft, the F-16 Fighting Falcon, and the F-22 Raptor; Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control (18% of 2024 revenues), which includes the MIM-104 Patriot surface-to-air missile, the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, the M270 Multiple Launch Rocket System, the Precision Strike Missile, the AGM-158 JASSM air-launched cruise missile, the AGM-158C LRASM anti-ship missile, the AGM-114 Hellfire, the Apache fire-control system, the Sniper Advanced Targeting Pod, Infrared search and track, and support services for special forces; Lockheed Martin Rotary and Mission Systems (24% of 2024 revenues), which includes Sikorsky Aircraft such as the Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk, Sikorsky HH-60 Pave Hawk, Sikorsky VH-92 Patriot, Sikorsky CH-53K King Stallion, and Sikorsky SH-60 Seahawk, the Aegis Combat System, Littoral combat ships, Freedom-class littoral combat ships, River-class destroyers, and the C2BMC missile defense program; and Lockheed Martin Space (18% of 2024 revenues), which includes the UGM-133 Trident II ballistic missile, the Orion spacecraft, the Next-Generation Overhead Persistent Infrared, GPS Block III, hypersonic weapons and transport layer programs and the Ground-Based Interceptor.