This is a question on Quora concerning which plane is best in a scrap. From the credentials id say he knows his do do.
Rick Scheff, flies fast jets, drives fast cars, drinks expensive whiskey
Answered July 8, 2019 · Upvoted by Adrian Kruger, Qualified pilot with a PPL, student of all things Aviation. and Paul Tomblin, Licensed private pilot. PP-ASEL-IA with high performance and complex endorsements.
I saw this question and it made me laugh. I considered answering it but decided it was too silly. Then I got asked to answer and I try not to turn down flying related asks, so here we are.
The simple answer is no. Not only is the Raptor not less maneuverable than a Strike Eagle, there's really no comparison. It's common to refer to the Strike Eagle as the B-15 to differentiate it from the F-15C. B is for bomber because that's what that airplane is.
I fly the F-16. I'm stationed at Shaw AFB in South Carolina, which is also the headquarters of Ninth Air Force - Wikipedia. If you look at who they own you'll notice that it includes the 1st Fighter Wing - Wikipedia, the 325th Fighter Wing - Wikipedia, and the 4th Fighter Wing - Wikipedia. The upshot of that is that I get to fly with and against both F-22s and F-15Es on a regular basis.
Before we get into why, lets look at pictures of the airplanes in question:
First up we have the F-22. The world's premier air dominance fighter. It lives air to air, it breathes air to air, and for those glorious several minutes until it runs out of gas and goes home it is the undisputed champion:
Secondly, we have the F-15E. It has a lot of gas, a lot of weapons, a lot of people, a lot of drag, and mostly does air to ground missions. It can do air to air in the same sense than an olympic decathlete can run a 1500. It'll get done, but it won't be pretty:
For comparison this is what I'm flying when I'm playing with them. I include this for context and because I find I get more upvotes when I include pictures of me flying:
Yes, that's actually me. Note the SW (Shaw) tail flash and the stripes. Tiger Tiger.
At high speed and well above the floor a Raptor and a block 50 Viper are basically the same. With sufficient energy, the limiting factor is the airframe G limit, which is 9G for both. Both airplanes will easily sustain 9G in a descending fight. The catch is that at the floor or at low speed the Raptor has both way more power and vectored thrust so it beats even the block 50 Viper.
The Strike Eagle, by contrast, is lucky to get any noticeable G at all, even momentarily. If you look back at the picture you'll notice the conformal fuel tanks. Trying to maneuver with those on is like trying to run in ski boots. For long air to ground missions they're nice. For high G fighting they're crippling.
This is borne out nicely, because we often support both the F-15E and F-22 basic courses, and a popular way we support them is being the bad guy for ACM (2v1) fighting. There are two of them vs one of us, but in exchange we usually get to start behind them, so they have a problem to solve.
When fighting the Raptors, it's usually everything I can do to stay alive. I use full afterburner, I'm on the limiter, it's exhausting, and they still usually get me. If nothing else they can drive me to the floor and just win by physics. Especially if I'm fighting the instructor pilot it's a matter of time. The Strike Eagle, by contrast, is very easy to fight. When we fight them we don't use afterburner at all and it's still trivial. If I wanted to I could win every 2v1 in a matter of seconds because their jet just can't point at me. I get to start behind them and they have no way to get me away from there.
When we coordinate the day before the Raptor instructors usually say something along the lines of "Do whatever you want. I'd like to see your best shot and we'll figure it out." The Strike Eagle instructors usually say "please don't use AB, and line up behind me but switch to the student so I can see what he does, and if you end up 1 circle with me just stay neutral so I can see what he does, and don't call kills, and if you get in a developed fight with the student just let him eventually get to your control zone so we don't waste gas, and, and, and, …."
This isn't to say that one is a better airplane than the other. They do different things. For example the 15E can do this:
That's more than twice as many bombs as an F-16 can carry. It can also fly approximately 100 times longer than an F-22 without tanking, so it's way more useful for close air support. Strike Eagle people tell me that the other guy is really useful for working the targeting pods. I hold a deep seated suspicion of airplanes with more than 1 person in them, but it works for them.
In a big and confusing world we need all kinds of airplanes, but don't be fooled by the impressive payload, loiter time, air to ground lethality, and superficial resemblance to a slightly more capable (but still sub-par) BFM airplane like the F-15C.
The F-15E can't hold a candle to an F-22 in an up close and personal engagement.
Rick Scheff, flies fast jets, drives fast cars, drinks expensive whiskey
Answered July 8, 2019 · Upvoted by Adrian Kruger, Qualified pilot with a PPL, student of all things Aviation. and Paul Tomblin, Licensed private pilot. PP-ASEL-IA with high performance and complex endorsements.
I saw this question and it made me laugh. I considered answering it but decided it was too silly. Then I got asked to answer and I try not to turn down flying related asks, so here we are.
The simple answer is no. Not only is the Raptor not less maneuverable than a Strike Eagle, there's really no comparison. It's common to refer to the Strike Eagle as the B-15 to differentiate it from the F-15C. B is for bomber because that's what that airplane is.
I fly the F-16. I'm stationed at Shaw AFB in South Carolina, which is also the headquarters of Ninth Air Force - Wikipedia. If you look at who they own you'll notice that it includes the 1st Fighter Wing - Wikipedia, the 325th Fighter Wing - Wikipedia, and the 4th Fighter Wing - Wikipedia. The upshot of that is that I get to fly with and against both F-22s and F-15Es on a regular basis.
Before we get into why, lets look at pictures of the airplanes in question:
First up we have the F-22. The world's premier air dominance fighter. It lives air to air, it breathes air to air, and for those glorious several minutes until it runs out of gas and goes home it is the undisputed champion:
Secondly, we have the F-15E. It has a lot of gas, a lot of weapons, a lot of people, a lot of drag, and mostly does air to ground missions. It can do air to air in the same sense than an olympic decathlete can run a 1500. It'll get done, but it won't be pretty:
For comparison this is what I'm flying when I'm playing with them. I include this for context and because I find I get more upvotes when I include pictures of me flying:
Yes, that's actually me. Note the SW (Shaw) tail flash and the stripes. Tiger Tiger.
At high speed and well above the floor a Raptor and a block 50 Viper are basically the same. With sufficient energy, the limiting factor is the airframe G limit, which is 9G for both. Both airplanes will easily sustain 9G in a descending fight. The catch is that at the floor or at low speed the Raptor has both way more power and vectored thrust so it beats even the block 50 Viper.
The Strike Eagle, by contrast, is lucky to get any noticeable G at all, even momentarily. If you look back at the picture you'll notice the conformal fuel tanks. Trying to maneuver with those on is like trying to run in ski boots. For long air to ground missions they're nice. For high G fighting they're crippling.
This is borne out nicely, because we often support both the F-15E and F-22 basic courses, and a popular way we support them is being the bad guy for ACM (2v1) fighting. There are two of them vs one of us, but in exchange we usually get to start behind them, so they have a problem to solve.
When fighting the Raptors, it's usually everything I can do to stay alive. I use full afterburner, I'm on the limiter, it's exhausting, and they still usually get me. If nothing else they can drive me to the floor and just win by physics. Especially if I'm fighting the instructor pilot it's a matter of time. The Strike Eagle, by contrast, is very easy to fight. When we fight them we don't use afterburner at all and it's still trivial. If I wanted to I could win every 2v1 in a matter of seconds because their jet just can't point at me. I get to start behind them and they have no way to get me away from there.
When we coordinate the day before the Raptor instructors usually say something along the lines of "Do whatever you want. I'd like to see your best shot and we'll figure it out." The Strike Eagle instructors usually say "please don't use AB, and line up behind me but switch to the student so I can see what he does, and if you end up 1 circle with me just stay neutral so I can see what he does, and don't call kills, and if you get in a developed fight with the student just let him eventually get to your control zone so we don't waste gas, and, and, and, …."
This isn't to say that one is a better airplane than the other. They do different things. For example the 15E can do this:
That's more than twice as many bombs as an F-16 can carry. It can also fly approximately 100 times longer than an F-22 without tanking, so it's way more useful for close air support. Strike Eagle people tell me that the other guy is really useful for working the targeting pods. I hold a deep seated suspicion of airplanes with more than 1 person in them, but it works for them.
In a big and confusing world we need all kinds of airplanes, but don't be fooled by the impressive payload, loiter time, air to ground lethality, and superficial resemblance to a slightly more capable (but still sub-par) BFM airplane like the F-15C.
The F-15E can't hold a candle to an F-22 in an up close and personal engagement.