This podcast is dedicated to fighter aircraft. Fighter aircraft is something which is very important in the defense of a country. At the beginning it was only an aircraft designed for air-to-air combat but after that period we realized that it was important to have an air superiority in the battle space not only in the battlefield and it was important to have new tools totally different from those of the First World War. But after the Second one it was so important and specifically due to the Pacific Theater but also of course the European one to have innovations and to have many different types of fighter aircrafts. So it was the beginning of the notion of interceptor, of heavy fighter and of course night fighter. The combination was already at that time a tactical level but also a strategic bombing related of course to the enemy targets. The difference between the tactical level and the strategic level is not only due to the speed of the aircraft but also due to its range and of course the duration of the mission. But we don’t have to forget the highest level of the aircraft when it is in mission. So we can say that those three magical numbers, I mean, the speed measured in Mach, the range also the maximum altitude can define the role of the strategic fighters and also the fighter aircrafts. So let’s imagine that we have some examples to understand what we mean by those observations, is when we are talking about the F-16 in relation to the F-15 or F-14 or F-22 or F-35, we have to bear in mind that the all-weather aircraft is an important notion relating to the robustness and that it’s not just a point of efficiency. For example F-16 is a very efficient aircraft but not so robust, as for example F-15. Another example may be as a very robust aircraft is F-4 but now we are talking also the stealth dimension, the digital dimension of the aircraft. And this is more related of course to F-35, for example. We need also to talk about the ratio between the thrust and the weight to understand not only the role of the aircraft but also the choice between the tasks. All this combination reminds us also the same problem with the tanks and the aircraft but now with fighter aircraft and the war boat. So for example the frigate. The idea is to combine the two weapons at the first time on the ground and in the air and the second time in the air and on the sea and this combination creates a strategic mix which is not only very efficient but also very robust in many situations and of course in all-weather situations. So if we want to see how the air defense should be done, we should think that the different elements, I mean, the earth, the air and the water should be combined to see the battlefield and the battlespace together in a more complete vision of a war. For that we need speed, we need fire and we need of course resistance. For all these reasons, the fighter aircraft is a key because with its speed it can make the relation between the earth and the sea, it can connect two different fields and with its help it’s possible to have the big picture. The vision of the ground and the sea and the space, due to the air, as a holistic approach, This is the difference between the classical approach and the new one because we are not talking about different weapons in different fields but more about the connection between those different weapons and how an attack or even a defense can be articulated with those tools in one global way. That’s the new point of view of war and in this new point of view the fighter aircraft is a key notion.