[2CAVTrooper]

There was one that was being developed for Israel that with the use of water injection, it could top Mach 3 at high altitude.....IIRC it was called the F-4X. The State Department nixed it, and later the Air Force pulled funding because it would interfere with the F-15 project.

Then there is the F-4 2000 “Super Phantom”/Kurnas 2000, or the Turkish version of the Kurnas known as the F-4E 2020 Terminator.

[Nowhere Man]

There was one that was being developed for Israel that with the use of water injection, it could top Mach 3 at high altitude.....IIRC it was called the F-4X. The State Department nixed it, and later the Air Force pulled funding because it would interfere with the F-15 project.

Then there is the F-4 2000 “Super Phantom”/Kurnas 2000, or the Turkish version of the Kurnas known as the F-4E 2020 Terminator.

IIRC, I think you can nudge a stock F-4 to Mach 2.6 so Mach 3.0 is not too far out of the question. The only downside is that there are times it might not be as maneuverable but for cost and a few updates in avionics, it wouldn't be a bad fighter in today's world. Even the F-15 could deal with anything out there now and the foreseeable future. I don't know, to me the F-35 JSF looks like a piece of junk, maybe I'm wrong but when I see it, it screams out "Yugo" to me. The F-22 is OK and cool, the cost is a downer but when you think about it, I think if you built a new F-15 today, it could come close to costing what an F-22 would.