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.
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.
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.
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.
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)It’s a very good plane. Its Manufacturing and operating cost are much lower than the F35. Also stealth does not matter nearly as much on defense as offense (no ground fire).
So they would just fine playing defense of the USA.
Which tells you a lot about the next war the pentagon is preparing for.
This has NOTHING to do with the F-15EX or the USAF.
This is about Boeing who produces them. Boeing pays off the democrats bigly. Boeing is suffering greatly because commercial aviation is way down. Boeing is living off its defense revenue and needs the F-15EX badly.
Biden wants to use the F15 against us deplorables and irredeemables. He said as much, the evil SOB.
I am not an Air Force vet, but my understanding is that the F-15EX would serve two main functions:
First, in traditional lower threat modes as weapons platforms much as they are used today.
Second, they are “4.5 Gen aircraft to be used as an armed extension via data linking to 5th Gen aircraft such as the F-22 and F-35, both of whom have extensive passive sensor capability that will allow them to remain concealed while surveilling a large area, extended even further to the spheres being occupied in extended formations by the “4.5 Gen” aircraft such as the F-15EX which will have less need to be stealthy, and may be armed with long range air-to-air missiles which can be targeted via datalink.
At least that was the explanation I heard a couple of years ago. Basically, when not serving more traditional roles in lower threat environments, when in a higher threat environment, they may operate more remotely (safely) and be directed and have target information sent to them for weapons engagement via datalink...the 5th Gen fighters serving as force-multiplying mini-AWACS planes.
Someone may have a more recent, or better justification given by the Air Force for these.
The very last thing I did in the AF was a 1 1/2-hour flight in an F-15. In a very few minutes after take-off I was inverted at 50,000 ft, over mach 1, and right over the airfield I took off from. Then the fun started.
It was very cool!
The IF-I-Sex Fighter? Huh?