F-15 EX Eagle II

[BlueOvalFitter]

Lately I have been seeing articles pop up here and there about this fighter jet. What makes it so special all of a sudden and is it an altogether new fighter jet?

https://interestingengineering.com/...bat-deployment-after-firing-its-first-missile

 

[SteveG4]

As the article describes, it's an updated and advanced version of the older jet. Yet, it reuses up to 80% of the spare parts from the older, aging aircraft.

It appears to be a win-win. The question remains, "does it compete with the newer, competing designs of our adversaries?"

We shall see ...

 

[ka9mnx]

The ageing F-18 went through the same modernization several years ago and became the Super Hornet.

 

[Astro14]

The ageing F-18 went through the same modernization several years ago and became the Super Hornet.

Nope. Not quite. The Super and the legacy have almost zero parts commonality.

The Super got a new fuselage, new wings, new empennage, larger engines, different intakes, different landing gear, new radar, and new canopy.

The only common parts were the ejection seat and radios.

In one of the great swindles in aviation, Congress killed Super Tomcat, a much higher performance airplane which actually was over 80% common and could be built from existing airframes, to buy the Super Hornet, which was an all new jet.

But because the name is the same, it was marketed as a “low risk upgrade“ when it was actually a completely different, all new airplane.

And people bought it.

 

[Randol]

It gets GE F110-129 Engines

 

[DuckRyder]

Wait...

Is it actually new or a refit.... did somebody find a bunch of F15 airframes out back and these are "continuation" eagles....

 

[Astro14]

These are new production. The commonality of parts simplifies logistics and servicing.

The USAF was planning to buy 750 Raptors to replace all the Eagles as they wore out.

But cost over-runs and budget pressures killed the Raptor at 180+ airframes, leaving 600 or so aging Eagles.

One of them broke up in flight a few years ago, due to airframe fatigue.

The USAF still needs new airframes. This is the solution. Personally, I’m in favor. Not every situation requires a super expensive, 5th Gen fighter, and the Eagle has the best combat record of any fighter ever built.

Building new ones, with radar and engine upgrades, is a low risk way to get new airframes into service. Much cheaper than a new design fighter, and much cheaper than new Raptors.

 

[Cujet]

In one of the great swindles in aviation, Congress killed Super Tomcat, a much higher performance airplane

And people bought it....

John Boyd felt quite differently. I read the biography linked below and found him to be quite a character! In a nutshell, he felt the aerodynamic, weight and structural issues with a swing wing configuration did not offset the advantages. I am in no position to have an opinion, other than to say that I remain unconvinced our newer fleet of aircraft is mechanically superior.

https://www.amazon.com/Boyd-Fighter-Pilot-Who-Changed/dp/0316796883

 

[Astro14]

The swindle was this:

The USN asked for a low risk upgrade for a fighter that was in production.

Grumman offered Super Tomcat - existing airframe, new engines, some flap/slat changes, a change to the wing glove fairing, and new radar.

Faster (super cruise) than the existing airplane. More fuel. Slower landing speed. More payload. Much faster than Super Hornet. Much longer range. With the new weapon system, which had a larger antenna, better weapon performance than the Hornet.

McDonnell Douglas offered the Super Hornet. Slower than the existing airplane. More fuel. Modest range improvement that was masked by 500 gallon tanks (in place of 330 gallon tanks) to make it look longer range comparing only range performance with tanks. Bigger. Heavier. More payload.

Marketed as a low risk upgrade - it was an entirely new airplane. No commonality.

But it was selected to meet the “low risk upgrade, currently in production“ requirement.

 

[2EHA]

it means old and decrepit legacy f15c can go straight to the crusher.

f15e will hopefully become beer cans soon enough when f-35as finally come online

 

[Cujet]

The book on Boyd did go into much of that. The YF17 was not even originally designed for the Navy.