Military Aircraft Classes (3 of 4)

Again this is a continuation of the previous post:

7.Helicopters/Vertical Takeoff and Landing (VTOL) aircraft
The name says it all. Helicopters and VTOL aircraft are aircraft that have the capability to take off and land in the vertical.
Such abilities hold great use. These aircrafts' virtually nil takeoff and landing distance enable them to operate from almost any terrain, provided that it's flat enough, of course. Besides that, these aircraft can hover in position whereas normal aircraft have to constantly keep moving to generate lift to fly.
In civilian roles, helicopters have uses from search and rescue to transport to even news reporting platforms. However in the military helicopters have three main uses: cargo transport, ground attack and naval antisubmarine/antisurface warfare.
In the ground attack role, helicopters are useful as they can easily overtake any ground vehicle (and definitely people) having a perfect bird's eye view, and being able to stay on the battlefield longer. Soviet Mil-24 Hind gunships wreaked havoc in Afghanistan despite suffering casualties until the Mujaheddin became adept at sending Stinger missiles up their tailpipes. A modern example of helicopter gunships is the AH-64 Apache.


Mil-24 Hind


AH-64 Apache

Helicopters also find good use on naval platforms where they can operate in the ASW role and sometimes the antiship role. Modern warships starting from the corvette class and larger usually provide facilities for helicopters.


Dauphin naval helicopter

Some jets also have VTOL capability, the first of which is the infamous BAe Harrier. These were the first British jets to operate from Britain's carriers and served well in the Falklands conflict.
One of the newest aircraft designs, the US F-35 JSF, also has VTOL capability.


BAe Harrier


F-35 JSF (Lightning II)

8.Reconnaissance aircraft
Recon aircraft were the first military aircraft used. WW1 saw them gathering vital information about enemy troop positions and serving as artillery directors. One example is the Royal Aircraft Factory Be.2 biplane.
From then till now mainly modified fighters have served in the recon role, and satellites in the space age. But there are some aircraft that specialises in this role: Among them is the U.S. U-2 high-altitude spyplane and Mach 3 SR-71 Blackbird, used to gather information on the USSR during the Cold War. The Soviets however, mainly used modified bombers in this mission.


U-2


SR-71 Blackbird