Posted 12 November 2007 - 22:06
I noticed you left out the Gripen, Rafale, and the Mirage 2000, three planes that can out perform several of the ones on this list.
Anyway, the F-14 had terrible maintenance problems, bad enough to keep it from being on top of this list.
The F-15 has consistently had a very high mission ready rate, has a perfect record, has been upgraded with AESA, HMD, and new engines. Its arguably second only to the Raptor BVR, and can hold its own in a dogfight against pretty much everyone except the F-22 and F-16.
The F-16 is right up there with the F-15 mission ready wise. The newer Block 50/52+, Block 60, and F-16I are easily some of the most advanced planes in the air. Until the F-22 came along, the F-16 was the best high speed dogfighter in the world.
The F/A-18, assuming that we're talking about the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, currently holds the record for the total amount of weapons it can carry into a battle, plus, it is an excellent slow speed dogfighter, capable of higher AoA than a Flanker.
The Mig-29, not sure which version we're talking about, has always been plagued by a short range and poor radar. While it can land on crappy runways, it also has very short engine life because of that ability. It is however a very good low speed dogfighter.
The Mig-31 doesn't really fit on this list very well. All along it has been designed to stop bombers and cruise missiles. Its not a good dogfighter, and it has lost its BVR edge due to its lack of AESA radar.
The Eurofighter is the unknown here, it has a lot of potential, but it has yet to prove its self in any way. On paper, it looks to be a very good dogfighter and once it gets the Meteor missile, it will be a very good BVR fighter as well.
The Tornado, I'm assuming the Tornado F.3 since that's the fighter variant, is really a crappy fighter. The Tornado was, or rather still is, a great strike platform, but the airframe sucks for air combat.
As for the Sukhois, the Su-37 only had 2 models built as tech demos, one crashed, and the other was turned into a Su-35. The Su-35 only has about 10-12 models built, and is really no more capable than the Su-30MKI. The MKI has good range, payload, and low speed dogfighting abilities, but it falls short radar BVR and radar wise.
Overall, the F-15 wins hands down. As a fighter, it is literally perfect, as its record speaks for its self.