F-15E Strike Eagle

May I suggest that you read up a little more. Most of the "facts" you have mentioned have been wrong.

Gonna burst your bubble, I said the F-15E is the best STRIKE fighter in the world, not the best fighter. Try reading. It does wonders.

Me or Shugo?

Shugo's done most of the talking here.

Hey, hey... no need to bash me friend. It was a simple misunderstand, and I admited I was wrong. My apologies, I can't do much more than that.

True the F-15 is an amazing aircraft, but the F-15E is not the last in its series, the F-15 ACTIVE is, it is a testbed for thrust vectoring.

Shattered OUT...

Both of you....

Shattered OUT...

But the F-15 active has been tested long ago. I doubt it will be produced in present times when RCS, radar and misille range are considered primary goals. Maybe when F-22 will cost too much and congres will not aprove aditional funds than maybe...

The F-15ACTIVE may have been tested long ago, but that was for just thrust vectoring, it may be tested for other modifications or perfections to air breathing thrust technology.

Shattered OUT...

ShatteredSkies,

Such as? Trying to see where I got it wrong, since the other dude has done most of the discussing so far.

Really, the F-15E wouldn't have been in service this long if it's that bad. And it was designed by Skunk Works in the late 1980s, a secret project at the time, so it is pretty advanced and all that.

Actually the F-15E was a (then) McDonnel Douglas company funded project that was sent to the USAF for approval. Seeing the need for a quick replacement for the FB-111 the AF jumped on it.

Skunk Works is a Lockheed company project.

I said I wouldn't bash, but I can't let that comment pass, Skunk Works is with Lockheed... McDonnel Douglas has also been bought out by Boeing, that's gotta tell you something. F-15ACTIVE and S/MT will always hand over the F-15E though, maybe not exactly attack and strike, but all things considered.

The F-15 that was flown in the ACTIVE research program (1993-1998) and was a modified two-seat "B" model of the McDonnell-Douglas fighter, McDonnell-Douglas is now owned by Boeing.

As CoolHand noted - Skunkworks is Lockheed, the F-15 was therefore not developed at Skunkworks.

The F-15E is a very updated fighter-bomber platform, the first one rolled off the assembly line in 1988 and the last one in 2002. This does not sound like an archaic-ready-for-the-boneyard heap of junk.

Don't hold your breath waiting for the F-15 Active to be mass-produced, it was a one-off testbed for vectored thrust - the culmination of that research is now seen on the F-22.

Initial Flight Test Evaluation of the F-15 ACTIVE (see page 9)

Aren't they preparing to restart production on it for the Israelis and the F-15K?

Last I heard the South Koreans had choosen it as their new fighter.

I was actually referring to the US versions of the F-15...
The Israeli F-15i, The Japanese F-15J & the Korean F-15K are all technically similar to the F-15E -
Initially the F-15K with the Raytheon APG-63v1 radar could have been considered more advanced than the US F-15E but many if not all F-15C's and F-15E's have now been upgraded to the APG-63, plus the US versions have certain avionics that are not exported.

[Edited on 28-5-2004 by intelgurl]

Intelgurl is right. The F-15 ACTIVE was purely an experimental aircraft built to test technologies for future fighters, like the F-22. It was never intended to go into production.

She's also correct about the F-15E production run, which began in 1985. The first model was delivered to the USAF in 1988. A total of 209 were delivered by 1991. An additional 10 F-15Es were built between 1998 and 2002 to keep the production line open. The F-15 line is now in the process of building the F-15K for South Korea. The F-15K includes a number of upgrades over the F-15E, primarily to improve maintainability and provide a more advanced sensor suite. The first two aircraft are due to be delivered to the South Korean Air Force in 2005.

Finally, I wonder if the Skunkworks confusion might come from the fact that the McDonnell Douglas (now Boeing) advanced research and development division is called the Phantom Works.

www.boeing.com...

The Phantom Works is responsible for aircraft like the Bird of Prey, X-36, X-45, and Canard Rotor Wing. They were also involved in Boeing's X-32 proposal for the Joint Strike Fighter.

The Saudis also have F-15s. Though with an interesting provision in it's sale.Saudi F-15

It is an incredible design. It's track record and length of service is a testament to the talent of the people who designed and tested it.