Multi Role Aircraft

The F-4 was the best example of an aircraft that could multi role, in its day . After that i think the next one to do as well was the F-18C, but likely the best overall is the F-15E . It can bomb the **** out of anything, and hold its own against nearly all comers in the air to air role .

Few enough aircraft have been designed from the outset as truly multirole and you are probably right that most which were designed to meet multiple service requirements were compromised to a greater or lesser degree. As for types which evolved into multirole aircratft, the Hunter, Mosquito and Ju-88 also come to mind. The F-104 also served for many years as a fighter, PR and attack aircraft. How it would have fared in a real conflict was never seriously put to the test.

Davidth88 wrote: »

What do people think , can you think of any aircraft DESIGNED as a multirole which actually filled this with success ? I am struggling TBH

F-15e.

i think the truth is, that the USAF were just mad, that the navy had come up with a better fighter than anything the air force had . The F104 was going to be their main fighter but it really was just a rocket with a man at the front . I loved to see them fly, but as a combat aircraft i think they were poor except as point defenders . As far as im concerned, muti role is , not being able to operate equally from land or carriers, but rather, being able to operate air to air or air to ground roles equally

Stovepipe wrote: »

The RAF and Industry made a balls of modifying the F4 and had to lease F4s to cope with the capability gap.

The RAF's F-4Js were acquired to make up the numbers, as Phantoms had had to be deployed to the Falklands for air defence post-1982 and the Lightning force was being wound down. The Spey Phantom had some performance differences all right, but then the inclusion of British equipment/content was something that was regarded as important for the UK aero industry in the 1960s, at a time when it was contracting and no doubt Government wanted to sustain capability and jobs. It was an impressive performer, even if slightly slower than the J-79-powered versions.

RAF F-4K Phantom FG.1 XV579 by Irish251, on Flickr

Davidth88 wrote: »

I am struggling to think of one .

I think the Mirage F1 is a candidate, intended from conception to fulfill interceptor/ground attack and trainer roles. It's interesting that Dassault undertook its development as a private venture rather than as a government-funded project: perhaps this saved it from government/armed forces interference that might have compromised its design.

It could be said that the whole Mirage programme always lent itself to multiple roles, even though the Mirage III was conceived as a supersonic interceptor. I would say that Rafale was also conceived as a proper multi-role aircraft, albeit one that has never been tested in combat.

Davidth88 wrote: »

I was thinking some of the French aircraft may qualify ... or the Saabs ..... nice call merisi !

Yeah, I had the same thought over the weekend. I just wondered if the load of the of the Sepecat Jaguar and the Viggen were such that they could be classed as true multirole aircraft. The Gippen, Rafale and Mirage 2000 are most defiantly are mulirole capable.

Just to add to this. 2 real combat missions come to mind where a fighter performed air to air and air to ground in a single combat sortie with kills from both.

In Vietnam a flight of USN F-4Bs where on a close air support mission. Both fighters dropped 6 cluster bombs each and on the way home were jumped on by a flight of MiGs. Lt, Cunningham scored 3 kills on the MiG-17s, using 3 of his 4 AIM-9 missiles.

In the 1990 Gulf War a flight of 4 F/A-18s on the 17th of January 1991 were tasked with bombing an airbase in Iraq. Each of the 4 fighters carried 4 900kg dumb bombs each and had 4 air to air missiles for self protection each. On the way to the target their AWACS gave them a heads up that two Iraqi fighters were vectored on to them. The flight lead Lt. Cmdr Fox split the flight up into 2 elements. He and his wingman engaged the 2 MiGs head on and got one kill each, the other 2 Hornets dropped back a few miles to act as cover. Even though the Hornets had 3,600kgs of bombs weighing them down they still managed to shoot down the attackers! Generally the flight lead would call for the bombs to be ditched before engaging in air to air combat to give them a fighting chance.

What about the humble Herc?,
transport,gunship,spec ops, maritime patrol, air to air tanker,artic support....

The C-17 comes to mind, so does the F-35 and it's very interesting Mission X test flight where it was able to VTOL and go supersonic in one sortie.

Overheal wrote: »

The C-17 comes to mind, so does the F-35 and it's very interesting Mission X test flight where it was able to VTOL and go supersonic in one sortie.

The C-17 certainly isn't "multi-role" in the general sense. As for the F-35, it's a very open question as to whether it will excel at anything other than air displays. My hunch is that pilots will be longing for the Super Hornet long after it has been replaced by the F-35. (If that even happens, of course.)