Lockheed Martin has over 3,100 F-35s on order, meaning that the world's skies could soon be crowded with variations on the same advanced warplane.

But there are lots of other amazing military planes out there. And they're cool for all kinds of reasons: stealth, long range, armaments, maneuverability — or just for looking cool.

Whether it's a sleek design, or pure unadulterated deadliness, these are the best and baddest planes in the air today. 

This post was originally by Geoffrey Ingersoll.

The Russian-built Sukhoi Su-35 is one of the most maneuverable birds in the sky.

The Chengdu J-20 is China's first 5th-generation fighter. Little is known about it other than that the Chinese want it to have stealth — and that it looks a bit like a spaceship.

Though expensive and reliably dysfunctional, the F-35 has vertical take-off and landing capability, stealth, and highly advanced targeting capabilities.

The Eurofighter Typhoon is arguably one of the best birds out right now, and is competing with the F-18 Super Hornet for sales around the world.

The F-16 is flown by more than 25 countries.

Sukhoi PAK FA T-50 is Russia's best hope so far for an answer to the F-22 and F-35. But there are still very few of them in the skies.

The Saab Gripen, designed by BAE and Swedish Saab engineering, is capable of both manned and unmanned flight.

The Cobra is every grunt's dream: Fast, armed to the teeth, and deadly accurate.

The Osprey is maybe the coolest rotary-wing bird in flight right now. It's capable of both helicopter and fixed wing flight.

AC-130 gunships are armed with everything from 60 mm machine guns to 105 mm artillery shells.

The Mikoyan MiG-35 was designed to replace the MiG-29 with the hopes of breaking into the international market.

The Indian "Tejas" is designed with "relaxed static stability" for extra-steady maneuverability. Anything that relaxed must be pretty cool.

Japan's Kowasaki Ninja: Anything named "ninja" that has missiles makes the list of the world's coolest aircraft, hands down.

The Russian Mi-24 is the brawniest rotary wing bird on the globe.

China's Chengdu J-10 is a single-engine, single-seat bird-of-prey.

The B-2 Spirit is totally nuclear capable, able to avoid radar detection, and totally lethal.

The French Rafale is a twin-engine marvel of maneuverability.

The F-18 Super Hornet is one of the most reliable birds in the sky, and competes with the likes of the Typhoon and the Saab Gripen.

The Shenyang J-31 is basically China's best attempt to build something like the F-22 and F-35.

The Tupolev Tu-160 is Russia's version of an advanced long-range bomber jet.

The US Army's Black Hawk is by far one of the most fun rides in the military. It flies low and fast, and its pilots are definitely hotshots.

And finally the F-22 Raptor. How could anything be more terrifying than a Raptor?

The Apache helicopter is one of the most venerable attack aircraft in the US fleet.

The A-10 Warthog is the envy of the entire globe and maybe the greatest close-air support aircraft ever flown.

You've seen the fight in the sky ...

NOW CHECK OUT the fight on the ground, with 49 reasons why America can't fold its Marine Corps >

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7o8HSoqWeq6Oeu7S1w56pZ5ufony1tMSsnGaZopp6tbTEZmltZZOkvK2x0q1kpqGcnsGivthmmKKqk6eup8CMn6OyoZ6cerO1xqGrZqafrHpzfJBuZGw%3D