Posted on 01/26/2011 8:14:25 AM PST by sukhoi-30mki
USAF starts flight tests on F-15E with AESA radar
By Stephen Trimble
The US Air Force has started a three-year flight-test campaign for a new active electronically scanned array (AESA) designed for the Boeing F-15E Strike Eagle.
The first Raytheon APG-82(V)1 was flown aboard an F-15E at Elgin AFB in Florida on 18 January. The same aircraft was pictured (below) also carrying an infrared search and track pod and the Lockheed Martin Sniper targeting pod during the maiden flight.
© Samuel King Jr/US Air Force
The AESA enhancement represents a key upgrade for the USAF's F-15Es. A US Government Accountability Office report last August warned that portions of the F-15E fleet could be grounded in 2014 if the new radar is delayed.
US Air Force officials also want to improve the F-15's capabilities as the power of AESA radar spreads around the world. The APG-82(V)2 is adapted from the back-end processor of the APG-79 installed on the Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet and the front-end array of the APG-63(V)3 radar on some F-15Cs.
The new radar is also combined with other major upgrades, such as integrating the joint helmet mounted cueing system. About 220 F-15Es will be upgraded and preserved through 2035 as the USAF's front-line multi-role fighter.
The USAF has chosen not to participate in Boeing's plan to add other upgrades to the F-15E, including stealth treatments, a conformal weapons bay and a digital electronic warfare system.
What is the point?
The USAF is going to gut the F-15/F-16 fleet by 700 aircraft to pay for 186 F-22 fighters.
You forgot they also need to pay for the F-35.
The point is to put AESA radar on the remaining F-15 and F-16 aircraft.
For some reason I have bad feelings about the F35. Why ...I do not know.
This AESA has electronically scanning monopulse beams that can keep track of many more ‘targets’ than a conventional mechanically scanned antenna. With the right central computer and processing, a more deadly weapon.
The Raptor has already been deployed and paid for.
The Raptor will be augmented by these 220 F-15Es and over 1800 F-35s.
It's the F-35 that will supplant the remaining F-15 and F-16 fleet...though I believe we could use another 300 of the new F-15Es to ascertain Air Dominance as we wait for the F-35 to deploy and mature.
The F-15E (and the older, faster Cs with upgraded Radar) are still the 2nd best fighter in the world. Not sheer mechanical performance, though that's good. But due to superior avionics and weapons systems.
Exactly NONE have ever been shot down by anyone, anywhere.
And we might as well continue to use them against non-first-tier threats (anybody but China or Russia) rather than wear out our first-tier equipment when we don't need to.
The only reason the USAF would "gut" the F-15/16 fleet is because Obama will be gutting the US military in every way he can before he is removed from office.
There is one more thing needful, however...and that is a longer-range air-to-air missile system to keep up with the Russians and EADs systems.
And the Navy will need them too, with the retirement 5 years ago of the F-14 and the Phoenix missile system. We are looking at possibly a near-term blow up with China...and we will need every tool that gives us an edge that we can muster.
The USAF already has plans to replace the F-22.
“Under the plan, USAF expects to allocate funding to initiate the development of replacements for both the Lockheed Martin F-22 multirole fighter and C-5 Galaxy strategic transport aircraft by Fiscal Year (FY) 2020.”
What is terrifying is the length of time to build just one F-22. If our tiny little fleet of 187 F-22’s were destroyed on the ground Pearl Harbor style. How long would it take to replace them.
“Lockheed Martin has in recent times built F-22s at a rate of 24 a year.”
With no F-15/F-16’s left and F-35’s still not in production after 10+ years of development, we would quickly lose our air dominance.
All that did was ramp up the cost per unit of planes, and which was then used to politically attack the cost of the F-22, and hence end the program.
As far as "replacing" the F-22...won't happen.
We do need another 500+ F-22s for global positioning, and reserve, as you noted quite accurately relating to on-ground surprise attack vulnerability.
We also need about 250 for the Navy and Marines. They need to be re-engineered for that task, and were going to be made, but Dick Cheney killled that when he was Sec Defense under Bush I...all for a purported "Peace Dividend". He also was the one responsible for ordering the destruction of the production tooling of the F-14 naval air superiority fighter.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.