The Cold War Era
The Cold War Era was an era of growth and the military spending on behalf of the US and the USSR drove the advancements in military aviation to new heights. Due to the inherent nature of the Cold War being a passive arms race with slight proxy wars, aviation in terms of fighters, bombers, and reconnaissance. After World War Two, the focus on military aviation grew and originally propeller fighters upgraded to faster and sleeker jets with more powerful armaments. Bombers had also be increased in payload and speed to carry more powerful bombs, specifically the nuclear bomb. Reconnaissance planes become stealthy and adapted to the new power of radar detection systems and speed had strongly increased to avoid detection and create more efficient Intel gathering missions. The Korean War marked the first major event of jet fighters being incorporated into an active military role where jet combat truly began and new tactics and technology was developed. Bombers had now been engineered to hold nuclear weapons and propellers became faster and more efficient for these bombers. As the war progressed, the bombers adapted jet engines in order to create more efficient bombing runs while retaining a heavy payload. The second significant war was the Vietnam War, and at this time jets had increased to even fast speeds with more dangerous armaments such as guided missiles and bombs. Reconnaissance had become even faster and more effective especially with the SR-71. At the end of the Cold War, modern warplanes such as the F-15 and F-22 had begun developing and adapting to stealth principles and supersonic warfare.