: launched from one airplane in flight at another
air-to-air missiles
also : involving aircraft in flight
air-to-air combat

Examples of air-to-air in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web One of the fighter jets shot down the Turkish drone with an air-to-air missile, the officials said. Courtney Kube, NBC News, 5 Oct. 2023 Early in the war, Kyiv and many of its supporters called for a no-fly zone, but Western leaders refused to impose one, fearing an air-to-air clash between NATO and Russian aircraft. Austin Carson, Foreign Affairs, 14 Sep. 2023 Western governments continue to explore the possibility that an air-to-air missile could have been used, even if an explosion on board remained the more likely scenario. Robin Stein, New York Times, 24 Aug. 2023 Lacy made another name for himself in Hollywood, photographing air-to-air scenes in movies such as Top Gun, The Great Santini, and Armageddon. Eric Tegler, Popular Mechanics, 21 July 2023 So our near-term focus will be on ensuring a uniformly strong connection throughout the route, for both air-to-ground and air-to-air communications. Kamesh Namuduri, IEEE Spectrum, 8 July 2023 The jet will likely be multi-role, capable of air-to-air and air-to-ground missions, but with capabilities skewed somewhat toward air superiority. Kyle Mizokami, Popular Mechanics, 7 July 2023 Despite seeing plenty of combat duty in the Middle East and Balkans—including claiming two air-to-air kills, though one loss was also suffered to an Iraqi MiG-25—the FA-18 Hornet didn’t last particularly long in service due to the emergence of the enlarged FA-18E/F Super Hornet jet. Sébastien Roblin, Popular Mechanics, 23 June 2023 Two other formations flew above him, at 15,000 feet and 20,000 feet, over more than an hour of maneuvers, air-to-air refueling drills and mid-flight photo ops. Lara Jakes, New York Times, 12 June 2023 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'air-to-air.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1939, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of air-to-air was in 1939

Dictionary Entries Near air-to-air

Cite this Entry

“Air-to-air.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/air-to-air. Accessed 3 Dec. 2023.

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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