Most of the innovations that we see today come from military needs. Technologies such as biometrics, iris scans, etc. have had their inception from military grade requirements at different points. The period during a war has witnessed the fastest innovative ideas coming to the fore which later on went on to be available to the public. One such obvious advantage that world took was high-speed flights. Though the civilian side had seen the adoption of high-speed flights like the Concorde of the past, the record for the fastest aircraft is still a military one.
Let’s look at this list.
Fastest: X - 43A
This is by far the fastest aircraft that the world has seen. It flew at Mach 6.83, a record which still stands. Mach 6 means six times faster than the speed of sound. The X-43 was unmanned and jet powered.
Second Fastest: X - 15
Most people mistake the X-15 to be the fastest aircraft in the world. It is actually the second fastest. It had done a Mach 6.72 in the last century. It is the fastest manned, rocket-powered aircraft.
Third Fastest: SR - 71 Blackbird
Who does not know this beauty? This is most spoken about aircraft in the world. Interestingly, it is not in service anymore and yet continues to captivate our imagination. The SR-71 can go anywhere between Mach 3.3-3.5.
Fourth Fastest: YF - 12
The SR-71 and YF-12 looked incredibly similar, the only difference being that the YF-12 carried weapons. The YF-12 did a Mach 3.35. It was the largest interceptor aircraft ever built.
Fifth Fastest: MiG 25 – Foxbat
This is the only Russian aircraft in a list mostly dominated by American aircraft. The MiG 25 achieved a top-speed of Mach 3.2 and was built with the sole purpose of bringing the SR-71 down.
Sixth Fastest: Bell X - 2 Starbuster
This is one of the oldest aircraft in the all-time speed list. It achieved a remarkable Mach 3.196 in 1956 way before most aircraft even knew what Mach meant.
So, that makes the top six. A more detailed list is created by me and can be read at here: https://hubpages.com/education/Fastest-Military-Aircraft-in-the-World-Top-5
Image Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons