The Air Force has been incredibly tight-lipped about the new fighter, only confirming that it exists, and that it’s flying ... somewhere. A little bit of fun speculation could prove to be right, or it could prove to be very wrong. Let's use what we know to try to figure out what we don't.

There are basically two types of fighter jets: air superiority fighters and multi-role fighters. Air superiority fighters are “pure” fighters, meant only to fight other planes. One shining example is the original F-15A Eagle, whose designers were so opposed to a ground-attack role for the plane that their motto was, “Not a pound for air-to-ground.”

The other, recently more popular type of fighter is the multi-role fighter, like the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet or the F-15EX Advanced Eagle, which are capable of performing both air-to-air and air-to-ground missions, often in the same sortie.