page_title: Light fighter
hierarchical_section_title: Light fighter
caption_attribution_description: English: An air-to-air right side view of a YF-16 aircraft and a YF-17 aircraft, side-by-side, armed with AIM-9 Sidewinder missiles.According to Bob Ettinger in a YouTube video, he was piloting the YF-16 and Mike Clarke was flying the YF-17. Both were USAF test pilots at the time.&#91;1&#93;
context_page_description: A Light fighter or lightweight fighter is a fighter aircraft towards the low end of the practical range of weight, cost, and complexity over which fighters are fielded. The light or lightweight fighter retains carefully selected competitive features, in order to provide cost-effective design and performance.
  A well-designed lightweight fighter is able to match or better a heavier type plane-for-plane in many missions, and for lower cost. The lightweight class can therefore be strategically valuable.
  In attempts to scale this efficiency to still lower cost, some manufacturers have in recent years adopted the term “light fighter” to also refer to light primarily air-to-ground attack aircraft, some of which are modified trainer designs.
  From 1926 the light fighter concept has been a regular thread in the development of fighter aircraft, with some notable designs entering large-scale use.
context_section_description: A Light fighter or lightweight fighter is a fighter aircraft towards the low end of the practical range of weight, cost, and complexity over which fighters are fielded. The light or lightweight fighter retains carefully selected competitive features, in order to provide cost-effective design and performance.
  A well-designed lightweight fighter is able to match or better a heavier type plane-for-plane in many missions, and for lower cost. The lightweight class can therefore be strategically valuable.
  In attempts to scale this efficiency to still lower cost, some manufacturers have in recent years adopted the term “light fighter” to also refer to light primarily air-to-ground attack aircraft, some of which are modified trainer designs.
  From 1926 the light fighter concept has been a regular thread in the development of fighter aircraft, with some notable designs entering large-scale use.
caption: The General Dynamics YF-16 and Northrop YF-17 were competing designs in the US Lightweight Fighter program.
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