The F-35 was not built to win dogfights, but to operate smoothly at long ranges and over long periods of time.

Since the aircraft's introduction in the 2000s, the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor has dominated public and professional debate as the unquestioned symbol of American air power and air superiority.

The refinement of the fighter jet seems to have happened at a blistering pace. The world's first operative fighter jet was Germany's Messerschmitt Me 262, which took to the skies during the latter ...