Attack aircraft

The category, explained

Attack aircraft support troops on the ground, which means flying low and slow over people trying to shoot back. That inverts every fighter design rule: you want loiter time rather than speed, and you want to survive hits rather than avoid them.

The A-10 is the clearest expression of the idea. The airframe was designed around its 30 mm cannon, the pilot sits in a titanium bathtub, and the engines are mounted high at the rear where the wing and fuselage shield them from ground fire. It cruises at 706 km/h — slower than an airliner.

Every attack aircraft here

Silhouettes are sized by real wingspan — bigger aircraft draw bigger.

Ranked by length