Posted on 09/08/2022 5:08:15 AM PDT by whyilovetexas111
In July 2020 ,the United States Air Force contracted with Boeing for the delivery of new F-15 fighters, to be dubbed the F-15EX. The idea behind the F-15EX is remarkable in its simplicity: We have a great fighter plane, but our existing fleet is old, so why not just buy some new ones?
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Biden wants advanced crowd control.
The F-15 is still better than 90% of everything else out there, so why not get another 200 of them rather than 10 F-35s that are maybe 10% better? It’s not so much the capability of the plane but the capability of the pilot that matters.
I served in the Air Force, and right now the most advanced F-15s in the world are Saudi Arabia F-15SAs, with more advanced radar and avionics than our own F-15Cs.
About a decade ago an F-15 broke apart in flight due to fatigue on its airframe. Also, all of the F-15Cs need radar updates.
Between these two items, it is more cost effective to just buy new.
in before the armed citizen referrrrrr nevermind.
The F-15s are great, but they are 4th generational fighters.
The Air Force should be upgrading to F-22 Raptors that are 5th generational fighters that can do more and have less down time between flights.
On the surface, good idea. F-15s are still in production today as FMS aircraft. No real special engineering required to make them USAF. However, stupid decisions have been made that may make all the dreams of a “cheap” replacement for not.
Maybe revisit the A10 as well then?
My grandson is a mechanic on them. Says the new ones are easier to work on.
I think it cost effective to have a mix of cheaper stable platforms and next gen fighters.
Not every mission would need a stealth profile. And even a mixture of platforms gives strategic options which a Commander might want to use.
The newest jets are always going to be impressive. But the muscle-car all-weather fighter/bombers should always have s place in the AF inventory.
My son is a USAF pilot, and he thinks it’s a great idea. It can carry a ton of missiles. He did a special study on it, for class presentation, while he was in OTS.
I was at Mountain Home, and we had 4 squadrons of F-4s. That pattern could get full of fighters. It was a nightmare for controllers (me) when all 4 squadrons were flying.
Better than the F-35.
What Ukraine has demonstrated is that the ability to deliver gigatons of ordnance on dispersed targets is really an overwhelming military advantage. Precision strike on cammel jockeys using multi-million dollar missiles launched by $100M aircraft with 50% availability rates with replacements depending upon extended and vulnerable supply chains is sort of self-limiting.
Back in my drinking days, one of the guys I'd drink with was a former Phantom pilot that had flown in Viet Nam and into the 70s. He told me about when the F-15 was first fielded and they were doing force-on-force training. He said he and his wingman were on the runway behind two Eagles. The Eagles took off and they followed. He said by the time they got their Phantoms off the ground and got their landing gear up, the Eagles had done a complete loop over the airfield and were coming up behind them.
It was then, he said, he realized he was an old man in an old airplane.
Air Force retiree here.
I talked to a couple of pilot captains at the food court in the Maxwell AFB BX. They were going to Squadron Officer’s School on base. They both had on F-15EX patches on their flight suits.
I asked about the aircraft; what they thought of it, and also the F-35 and F-22.
They loved all three, for various reasons. They were part of the ongoing F-15EX acquisition program but were very eager to qualify in the F-35.
I took them at their word.
Much more knowledgeable than any armchair pilot on Free Republic.
My dad was a fighter jock and his last airframe was the phantom. He and other pilots said the F4 was proof that with enough engine strapped on it, anything can fly. He loved that bird, though - second only to the F101 Voodoo.
The F-15EX, the Air Force’s newest fighter aircraft, arrives to Eglin Air Force Base, Florida March 11. The aircraft will be the first Air Force aircraft to be tested and fielded from beginning to end through combined developmental and operational tests. The 40th Flight Test Squadron and the 85th Test and Evaluation Squadron personnel are responsible for testing the aircraft. (U.S. Air Force photo/1st Lt. Karissa Rodriguez)
From what I have read, all the manufacturing templates, jigs and fixtures necessary to build the F-22 were scrapped and no longer in existence......................
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