The F-15
Eagle is to the U.S. Air Force what the F-14 Tomcat is to the
U.S.Navy. It is an all weather, extremely maneuverable, tactical fighter designed to gain
and maintain air superiority in aerial combat. It is also widely viewed as setting the
world standard for the primarily beyond visual range (BVR) air-to-air mission it performs.
The F-15 has an advanced aerodynamic design with large lightly-loaded wings conferring
high agility. It features a sophisticated avionics system and its APG-63 radar introduced
a genuine look-down/shoot-down capability. Radar guided AIM-7 AAMs form the primary
armament, augmented by AIM-9 AAMs and an internal 20-mm M61A1 cannon for closer quarter
combat. The multi-role capability of the F-15 makes it one of the most versatile and cost
effective fighters in history.
The first F-15A flight was made on 27th July 1972, followed by a prototype F-15B two-seat
trainer (formerly TF-15A) in July 1973. The first F-15B was delivered in November
1974 to the 58th Tactical Training Wing, Luke Air Force Base, Arizona, where pilot
training was accomplished in both F-15A and B aircrafts.
The F-15C followed in 1979 and is the definitive production F-15 fighter model
representing an improved and updated F-15A derivative. First flying on 26th February 1979,
the F-15C introduced uprated F100 engines and provision for conformal fuel tanks (CFTs).
The two-seat F-15D similarly succeeds the F-15B trainer. By the early 1980s, Eagles had
already begun to replace the F-4 Phantoms as the U.S Air
Force's first-line fighters.
The F-15 was originally intended as a dual-role aircraft, incorporating air-to-ground
capability and wired for the carriage of air-to ground ordnance. The ground attack role
was abandoned in 1975, but later resurrected in 1982, when the second TF-15A was modified
as the privately developed "F-15E Strike Eagle". It was conceived as a
replacement for the General Dynamics F-111s . The F-15E's primary
mission is air-to-ground strike, for which it carries a wide range of weapons on two
underwing pylons, underfuselage pylons and 12 bomb racks mounted directly on the CFTs.
Development of the F-15E began in February 1984 and the first production aircraft made its
maiden flight on 11 December 1986. Operational F-15Es were delivered to the USAF in 1989.
" In combat,
the F-15 Eagle is a real fighter- pilot's dream. "
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