Techincally, there is only one way for the aircraft to remain hanging motionless in the air: if weight and lift cancel each other out perfectly, and at the same time thrust and drag cancel each other out too. But this is incredibly rare. To stay in the air and sustain its flight, an aircraft needs to be moving forward.

While most fighter jets cannot literally "stop" and hover like a helicopter, they can perform maneuvers that make them appear stationary or allow them to fly at extremely low airspeeds. Conventional jets like the F-22 Raptor use thrust vectoring to perform "post-stall" maneuvers, where the nose points up while the jet momentarily loses forward velocity, but it is still falling or moving through the air. The notable exceptions are V/STOL (Vertical and Short Take-Off and Landing) aircraft like the F-35B Lightning II and the AV-8B Harrier II. These specific jets use swiveling engine nozzles and lift fans to hover in mid-air, effectively stopping their forward motion completely to land vertically on ships or small clearings. For most other fighters, attempting to "stop" would result in a high-fidelity aerodynamic stall, requiring the pilot to use immense engine power or altitude to regain the airflow necessary to keep the wings producing lift and stay airborne.