Some years ago in Alaska I spoke with an F-15A pilot who was denigrating the capabilities of “that pig C model” thusly:
“See that windsock (at the midpoint of the Deadhorse runway)? I’d be at 10,000 feet climbing vertically in afterburner and that pig C model would still be on the runway.”
Apparently he did not see the utility of the extra weight in avionics carried by the F-15C model. Apparently.
I remember in 1978 when the Eagle was new and they were developing tactics at Nellis. We took lowly Phantoms from George up there for DACT and beat them on the Red Flag range until they learned how to use the aircraft. It is all about how you employ the airplane and taking advantage of your opponents vulnerabilities.