Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird
Lockheed · 1976
- Top speed
- 3,529.56km/h2,193mph980m/s1,906knMach2.88OfficialLON–NYC 1 h 35 min
- Absolute speed
- 3,529.56km/h2,193mph980m/s1,906knMach2.88Official
#1 of 5 · Fastest Military Jets
Vehicles · Ranked by top speed
Fastest Military Jets in the World (2026)
This list is military aircraft in history. The conditions line says which figure is an FAI record flight and which is a published service maximum. The Lockheed SR-71A is cross-listed from the air-breathing record: FAI 8879, 3,529.56 km/h on 28 July 1976, a reconnaissance flight. The YF-12A interceptor prototype is NASA's closed-course 2,070.101 mph on 1 May 1965. The museum's 2,062 mph stays a note. The air-launched X-15 stays on the rocket-plane list.
5 rankedA source on every row
5 military jets, ties share a rank.
- 1Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird
Lockheed · 1976
3,529.56km/h2,193mph980m/s1,906knMach2.88LON–NYC 1 h 35 min - 2Lockheed YF-12A
Lockheed · 1965
3,332km/h2,070.101mph925m/s1,799knMach2.72LON–NYC 1 h 40 minOfficialNASA (opens source in a new tab) - 3McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle
McDonnell Douglas · in service
3,018km/h1,875mph838m/s1,629knMach2.46LON–NYC 1 h 51 min - 4Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25
Mikoyan-Gurevich · production
3,000km/h1,864mph833m/s1,620knMach2.45LON–NYC 1 h 51 min - 5Lockheed Martin F-16 Fighting Falcon
Lockheed Martin · in service
2,414km/h1,500mph671m/s1,303knMach1.97LON–NYC 2 h 18 min
Mach is speed divided by the speed of sound at sea level, 340.3 m/s at 15 °C. At jet cruising altitude sound is slower, so the same speed is a higher Mach number there.
Published maxima sit beside those flights. The MiG-25 is 3,000 km/h at high altitude, a short dash. The F-15 Eagle is the Air Force fact-sheet maximum of 1,875 mph. The F-16 Fighting Falcon is 1,500 mph, Mach 2 at altitude, on the Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center sheet and the Air Combat Command sheet. Lockheed's Block 70 card prints the same 1,500 mph and says Mach 2 plus. The miles-per-hour number is the rank.
The F-22 sheet says only Mach 2 class, so no row. Navy data for the F-14 prints Mach 1.88 where other accounts print Mach 2.34, so the Tomcat is absent. NASA records the XB-70 at Mach 3 and prints no kilometre speed. Five rows stay under the index gate. Checked 9 October 2026.
The lineup · 5 on file
Meet the military jets
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Ranked by top speed
Fastest Military Jets
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