page_title: Strategic fighter
hierarchical_section_title: Strategic fighter
caption_attribution_description: A German Messerschmitt Bf 110 from Zerstörergeschwader 26 (3U+DT) with two 900l drop tanks.
context_page_description: A strategic fighter is a fast, well-armed and long-range fighter aircraft, capable of fulfilling roles such as escort fighter protecting bombers, penetration fighter carrying out offensive sorties of its own far into enemy territory and of maintaining standing combat air patrols at significant distance from its home base.
  Originally conceived of as a heavy fighter, as technologies developed giving lighter and more manoeuvrable types longer range, the focus of strategic fighter design shifted to include these types.
context_section_description: A strategic fighter is a fast, well-armed and long-range fighter aircraft, capable of fulfilling roles such as escort fighter protecting bombers, penetration fighter carrying out offensive sorties of its own far into enemy territory and of maintaining standing combat air patrols at significant distance from its home base.
  Originally conceived of as a heavy fighter, as technologies developed giving lighter and more manoeuvrable types longer range, the focus of strategic fighter design shifted to include these types.
caption: A Messerschmitt Bf 110 with range-extending drop tanks
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