Combat aircraft
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Military combat aircraft directly harm enemy forces, with kinetic or electronic attack, or deliberately go into range of enemy weapons. While the current trend is to have a given type of airframe (e.g., helicopter, single/dual engine jet, large jets) take on multiple roles, the classic roles are:
- Fixed-wing fighter
- Attack helicopter
- Attack and bomber aircraft
- Electronic attack
- Reconnaissance aircraft
- air assault airlift
- Combat search and rescue aircraft
These would be distinguished from:
- Transport aircraft that do not go into the area of battle
- Most air refueling tankers
- C3I-ISR aircraft
Unmanned aerial vehicles increasingly enter these roles, especially for reconnaissance but more and more for attack.