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A neat little summary from this web site:

http://faqs.cs.uu.nl/na-dir/mil-aviation-faq/part4.html

Subject: H.3. USAF/USN fighters and attack aircraft

A complete list of US aircraft would take up far too much space; instead,
I’ve listed only the post-war “F” and “A” series, the ones most often asked
about.

One star indicates a type that existed only as one or more prototypes and
never entered service; two stars indicate a type that never left the
drawing board; three stars indicate that the number was never assigned at
all (as far as I could determine).

USAF fighter designations, since the initiation of the “F” series in 1948:

F-80: Lockheed F-80 Shooting Star
F-81: * Convair XF-81 (experimental mixed-power jet/turboprop fighter)
F-82: North American F-82 Twin Mustang
F-83: * Bell XF-83
F-84: Republic F-84 Thunderjet/Thunderstreak/RF-84 Thunderflash
F-85: * McDonnell XF-85 Goblin (parasite fighter experiment)
F-86: North American F-86 Sabre
F-87: * Curtiss XF-87 Blackhawk
F-88: * McDonnell XF-88 Voodoo
F-89: Northrop F-89 Scorpion
F-90: * Lockheed XF-90
F-91: * Republic XF-91 Thunderceptor
F-92: * Convair XF-92
F-93: North American YF-93 (F-86 derivative)
F-94: Lockheed F-94 Starfire (F-80/T-33 derivative)
F-95: North American YF-95 (became F-86D)
F-96: Republic YF-96 (became F-84F)
F-97: Lockheed YF-97 (became F-94C)
F-98: Hughes F-98 Falcon (air-to-air missile; became GAR-1, later
AIM-4)
F-99: Boeing F-99 Bomarc (ground-to-air missile; became IM-99, later
CIM-10)
F-100: North American F-100 Super Sabre
F-101: McDonnell F-101 Voodoo
F-102: Convair F-102 Delta Dagger
F-103: ** Republic XF-103 (turbojet/ramjet hypersonic interceptor)
F-104: Lockheed F-104 Starfighter
F-105: Republic F-105 Thunderchief
F-106: Convair F-106 Delta Dart
F-107: * North American YF-107 (F-100 derivative)
F-108: ** North American XF-108 Rapier (long range interceptor and
XB-70 escort)
F-109: ** Bell XF-109 (but see below)
F-110: McDonnell F-110 Spectre (designation used briefly for USAF
version of F4H/F-4 Phantom II)
F-111: General Dynamics F-111 (the common name “Aardvark” is
unofficial)
F-112: ***? (may have been attached to Russian aircraft)
F-113: ***? (may have been attached to Russian aircraft)
F-114: ***? (may have been attached to Russian aircraft)
F-115: ***? (may have been attached to Russian aircraft)
F-116: ***? (may have been attached to Russian aircraft)
F-117: Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk

Note: Bell applied the designation “XF-109” to a VTOL fighter project of
the late 1950s (one prototype was built but never flew); however, this was
assigned unilaterally by the company, and was not sanctioned by the USAF.
The “F-109” designation has never been officially used, probably as a
result of Bell’s breaking the rules.

USAF/USN fighter designations, since the adoption of the Tri-Service
designations in 1962:

F-1: North American F-1 Fury (formerly FJ)
F-2: McDonnell F-2 Banshee (formerly F2H)
F-3: McDonnell F-3 Demon (formerly F3H)
F-4: McDonnell F-4 Phantom II (formerly F4H, briefly F-110)
F-5: Northrop F-5 Freedom Fighter/Tiger II
F-6: Douglas F-6 Skyray (formerly F4D)
F-7: * Convair F-7 Sea Dart (formerly F2Y)
F-8: Vought F-8 Crusader (formerly F8U)
F-9: Grumman F-9 Panther/Cougar (formerly F9F)
F-10: Douglas F-10 Skyknight (formerly F3D)
F-11: Grumman F-11 Tiger (formerly F11F)
F-12: * Lockheed YF-12 (A-12/SR-71 derivative)
F-13: *** (never used)
F-14: Grumman (now Northrop Grumman) F-14 Tomcat
F-15: McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle
F-16: General Dynamics (now Lockheed) F-16 Fighting Falcon
F-17: * Northrop YF-17 Cobra (lost to F-16 in Lightweight Fighter
contest)
F-18: McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet (YF-17 derivative)
F-19: *** (never used, at least officially)
F-20: * Northrop F-20 Tigershark (F-5 derivative)
F-21: IAI F-21 Lion (leased Kfirs, used as Aggressors in training)
F-22: Lockheed/Boeing F-22 Lightning II
F-23: * Northrop/McDonnell Douglas YF-23 (lost to F-22 in Advanced
Technology Fighter contest)

Note: The Rockwell XFV-12 was number 12 in the “V” series, not part of the
“F” series.

USAF/USN attack designations, since the adoption of the Tri-Service
designations in 1962:

A-1: Douglas A-1 Skyraider (formerly AD)
A-2: North American A-2 Savage (formerly AJ)
A-3: Douglas A-3 Skywarrior (formerly A3D)
A-4: Douglas A-4 Skyhawk (formerly A4D)
A-5: North American A-5 Vigilante (formerly A3J)
A-6: Grumman A-6 Intruder (formerly A2F)
A-7: Vought A-7 Corsair II (F-8 derivative)
A-8: British Aerospace/McDonnell Douglas AV-8 Harrier
A-9: ** Northrop YA-9 (lost to A-10 in AX contest)
A-10: Fairchild A-10 Thunderbolt II
A-11: ***? (apparently never used)
A-12: ** McDonnell Douglas A-12 (cancelled A-6 replacement)

Notes: The Harrier seems to have taken the number 8 slot in both the “A”
and “V” series. The designation A-12 for the original, single-seat version
of the aircraft that became the SR-71/YF-12/M-21 was an internal Lockheed
designation, not an official USAF one (the A-12s were operated by the CIA
and never officially entered military service). The designation A-37 for
the attack version of Cessna’s T-37 was derived from the trainer version of
the aircraft and was not part of the real “A” series.

The author(s) list a series of “Russian” aircraft numbers being designated between the FB-11 and the F/A-117 (Stealth) fighter.

Could be: If we “took” Russian and East Europe planes from Egypt/Israel/MidEast/India sources, repainted them at the USAF restricted bases with the USAF aircraft nbr, then it’d be easy to give them a “real” aircraft designation for budgetary purposes.

People wouldn’t ask too many questions: after all, the F-99 was a missile, the F-103 never was built, etc.. Why ask questions about “research project” aircraft it would be a great way to fly and maintain Russian aircraft by confusing the fuel and parts issues with a research project.