Boeing unveils upgraded F-15 Silent Eagle with fifth-generation features

www.flightglobal.com ^ | 17/03/09 | Stephen Trimble

[Freeport]

Boeing today unveiled a new F-15 prototype aimed at the international market with such "fifth-generation" add-ons as radar absorbent coatings, internal weapons carriage and integrated digital avionics, plus featuring a distinctive V-tail.

Improving the fourth generation fighter’s profile on air-to-air radar is Boeing’s key goal for the F-15SE, which the company plans to offer to five foreign countries with an estimated market for 190 orders.

Radar absorbent materials added to leading edges are designed to soften the F-15SE’s head-on radar signature. Canting both horizontal stabilizers by 15 degrees is intended to reduce radar returns to the side.

[Freeport]

Now, add the NASA ACTIVE engine system for thrust vectoring and you have the perfect 2nd war week air superiority fighter with the F-22 as the 1st war week system.

[unkus]

Isn’t 0bama cutting out the F-22?

[Kansas58]

Ya
But Obama wants to pay illegals to build bridges to no where.

Obama does not want to spend money on military aircraft manufacturing.

[PetroniusMaximus]

” with fifth-generation features”

Including an iPod dock!

[Freeport]

A picture of the NASA ACTIVE thrust vectoring system no thrust ground test:

[MrB]

[libspeak]
Building something like this is provocative. It will make other countries think we intend to attack or intimidate them and lead them to develop more and better weapons themselves. It would be ever so much better to stand down and don’t present such a threatening posture in the world. After all, the best and brightest always gravitate towards positions of power, and they can talk and reason through any disagreements.
[/libspeak]

[Abathar]

After all these years the F-15 is still a thing of beauty IMHO

Have to admit though, this thing is not so bad looking itself...

[buccaneer81]

Weird, seeing an F-15 with angled vertical stabilizers. Helps with stealth, I imagine.

[NCC-1701]

"...plus featuring a distinctive V-tail...."

Been there, done that.

[JewishRighter]

That’s an F-22 in your pic with the shuttle launch

[buccaneer81]

I figured they always ran CAP on Shuttle launches after 9/11. Great photo.

[Eye of Unk]

Maybe they can teach an "Old Dog" new tricks?

[Abathar]

I know, I was just commenting that both are a thing of beauty.

[Salamander]

Ex-AF hubby will slobber over this.
Thanks for posting it!

[buccaneer81]

My Dad was in the USAF, and always called those “Fork-Tailed Doctor Killers.”

[Joe 6-pack]

"Isn’t 0bama cutting out the F-22?"

All except for the hybrid version.

[Dead Corpse]

Pretty... They made it look like a stretch limo version of an F/A-18.

[RFEngineer]

“Weird, seeing an F-15 with angled vertical stabilizers. Helps with stealth, I imagine.”

Helps a lot. the vertical stabilizer combined with the horizontal stabilizer form a perfect corner reflector - which reflects energy exactly back towards it’s source.

I like it.....

[Salamander]

ROFLMAO!

Priceless.

[Pentagon Leatherneck]

Even if it really “Fifth geberation”

What would it require in RDT&E $$?
Is it ready for production, or is it a one-off prototype?
How much has it been tested in realistic operational conditions?

TC