The McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II is an American twin-seat supersonic fighter aircraft. Originally developed by the US Navy to serve as its next generation air superiority fighter, the F-4 Phantom exceeded most of its expectations in trials and was subsequently adopted by both the US Marine Corps and the US Air Force; the latter eventually became its most prominent user. It can reach an impressive top speed of Mach 2.2 and has an incredibly advanced electronics suite, by default including the AN/APQ-120 aerial interception radar, but capable of mounting an AN/ASQ-153 Pave Spiker laser designator pod, an AN/AVQ-26 Pave Tack electro-optical targeting pod and an array of electronic warfare pods. The Phantom distinguishes itself by being the first "missile fighter", designed around utilising contemporary air-to-air missile designs such as the AIM-7 Sparrow or the AIM-9 Sidewinder. When this did not turn out to be the "wonder weapon" that the US Armed Forces expected, losing out to North Vietnamese MiGs in close-quarters dogfights, F-4 Phantoms were fit with 20mm M61 Vulcan rotary cannon gunpods in the most common iteration of this fighter, the F-4E Phantom II. Despite being designed as an air superiority fighter, this aircraft has sufficient thrust to carry an enormous number of ground attack armaments, including nuclear bombs.
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