This article was originally published in the May 2022 issue of "Weapons" magazine. Personally, I think that "Weapons" magazine is a professional and objective military magazine, and it is recommended to subscribe continuously to enrich one's military and political knowledge. In the process of digitizing and preserving the "Weapons" at home, some of the older articles on it mainly want readers to examine the things and opinions of the past from another unique perspective.
This is the third article in a special feature on "The U.S. Air Force Towards 2040".
On February 2, 2021, the U.S. Air Force's first F-15EX fighter made its maiden flight, marking the beginning of the U.S. Air Force's re-procurement and equipping of non-stealth heavy fighters. In order to compensate for the lack of combat effectiveness caused by the aging of the F-15C D E fighters, the US Air Force officially ordered the first batch of F-15EX multi-role heavy fighters in 2020.
The total value of its orders is about $1.2 billion, including eight F-15EX fighter jets and aftermarket maintenance, as well as one-time upfront engineering costs. The contract gives Boeing a new lease of life on its F-15 production line in St. Louis, Missouri.
The F-15EX fighter, which made its first flight, took off almost vertically.
In addition to the first eight F-15EXs approved in FY 2020, the US Air Force requested the purchase of 12 F-15EXs in its FY 2021 budget and plans to purchase 64 F-15EXs in FY 2022 through FY 2025. According to Boeing, the Air Force may eventually buy 144 F-15EX fighters from the company.
So what kind of fighter is the F-15EX?
Eagle" no more.
The F-15 is the main model of the third generation of Western fighters. It has been in service with the United States and its allied air forces for decades, and has developed several major models such as the F-15A, B, C, D, E. The Americans claim that they have shot down hundreds of enemy planes in successive wars without losing a single one. However, after the end of the Cold War, McDonnell Douglas, the F-15's mother, was acquired by Boeing, and the opponent of the US military also changed from the powerful Soviet Air Force to the missiles and "Deshka" anti-aircraft machine guns in the hands of the air forces of third world countries or extremist forces.
Therefore, the status of pure air superiority fighters such as the F-15A C is far inferior to the F-15E "Strike Eagle" fighter-bomber, which also has a ground strike function. The latter undertook a large number of tactical ground attack combat missions for the US Air Force, and was also called the "Ground Licking Eagle" by military fans to distinguish the previous types of "Air Superiority Eagle".
The F-15C fighter was the last fighter to be dominated by air superiority, and a total of 408 units of this type were produced.
The F-15 is a fighter developed in the 70s of the last century. The latest F-15E fighter jet has also been in service for 30 years, and the aging of the airframe and the damage of the parts have brought flight safety hazards to this "Air Lord". In 2021, there was even an incident in which a British fan witnessed the US F-15 "flying sick", and then went to the base to remind the US military pilot to land.
Pictured: On July 13, British aerial photographer Ian Simpson was photographing a fighter plane outside the Laeckenheath base when he noticed an engine failure of an F-15E of the 492nd Fighter Squadron of the 48th Air Wing of the U.S. Army during takeoff.
The F-15 fighter is really old. In order to further upgrade this aging fighter, the U.S. Air Force has set aside a large amount of money for its upgrade in recent years in its budget plan expenditure. Currently, the F-15C fighter jets are carrying out the "Golden Eagle" upgrade project, which includes installing Raytheon's APG-63(V)63 (V) 3 active phased array radar for 179 F-15Cs in service, as well as equipping them with a new ADCP II mission system computer and the "Legion" infrared search and tracking pod.
This device allows fighter jets to launch missiles without turning on radar. In addition, in response to the problem that the life of the F-15C fighter is about to be exhausted, the US military has implemented the "Service Life Extension Program", requiring Boeing to remanufacture parts of the F-15C fuselage, or replace the wings. The average cost per aircraft is $30 million to $40 million.
The F-15E fighter-bomber is not in a much better situation, and it is more expensive to upgrade. In order to save costs for the F-15E mid-term modernization and upgrade project, the US military has relied on "picking up rags" since 2020 to maintain it. The U.S. military bought back the old wings that were replaced by the Saudi Arabian Air Force's F-15 when it was upgraded, refurbished and installed it on its own F-15E. In August 2020, the first batch of eight pairs of wings was delivered to the United States, and the unit price of each pair of wings reached $10 million, but it was still much cheaper than remanufacturing.
The F-15E is a two-seat supersonic fighter-bomber with ground attack as its main mission. It completed thousands of missions during Operation Desert Storm.
An F-15SA fighter of the Saudi Arabian Air Force took off at the King Khalid airbase in the country.
In recent years, the US military has expected that in the future, when facing the advanced ground-to-air missiles of China, Russia, and other major powers, the F-15's traditional maneuverability will no longer enable it to survive on the front line, and only the fifth-generation stealth fighter can forcibly break through the enemy's air defense network. However, the fifth-generation aircraft must stuff missiles into the fuselage in order to maintain the **, resulting in a large limit on the amount of bombs, coupled with the deployment progress of the green and yellow, so that the outside world has questioned the complete replacement of the fourth-generation aircraft with the fifth-generation aircraft. Against this background, the veteran of the US Air Force F-15 fighter has been pushed to the forefront again.
Eagle's path to magic reform.
Over the years, Boeing has not given up on upgrading the F-15 fighter, and has successively launched improved programs to Singapore, Japan and other countries, including the F-15SE "Silent Eagle" program, including the semi-stealth design has attracted the attention of various countries. The F-15EX developed and procured this time is based on the F-15SA exported to Saudi Arabia and the F-15QA fighter exported to Qatar to replace the new avionics system and enhance the payload capacity.
The F-15SE Silent Eagle fighter changed the conformal fuel tank into a bomb bay that could hold two AIM-120D medium-range air-to-air missiles or 45359 kg (1000 lb) bombs.
The built-in bomb bay is considered the biggest selling point of the F-15SE.
It is not only an excellent air superiority fighter, but also a typical "aerial bomb truck"-like multi-role fighter. The F-15EX is the first non-stealth fighter newly acquired by the U.S. Air Force in recent years, marking the end of the U.S. Air Force's vision of a fully stealth fighter fleet. In the balance of budget and combat effectiveness, the US military had to turn to a more pragmatic path of parallel equipment of *** fighters and fifth-generation fighters.
Boeing said in a press release that the first two F-15EX aircraft have rolled off the assembly line. The Air Force said they will be tested at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida, with the remaining six warplanes to be delivered in fiscal year 2023. Unlike the previous F-15SE "Silent Eagle" design scheme, the F-15EX completely abandoned the stealth design. It mainly improves its combat effectiveness by increasing the number of missile mounts and replacing it with a new radar electronic system.
The F-15E's payload capability is already very powerful.
According to Boeing's official website, more than $5 billion has been invested in the technical development of the F-15EX in the past 10 years, and the carrying capacity has been greatly improved, with a carrying mass of up to 13,381 kilograms, which can be transformed according to various needs to meet the needs of various missions of the Air Force. The new engines also provide increased speed and acceleration, allowing the aircraft to reach its destination faster. In addition, the all-round electronic warfare equipment is capable of processing 87 billion commands per second, making pilots more efficient in responding to unexpected situations. What's more, each F-15EX only costs about $80 million, which is a very cost-effective ratio.
Although it has been more than 40 years since the first batch of F-15 fighters entered service, in addition to the lack of first-class capabilities, the comprehensive combat capability of the "Eagle" fighter is still not lost to the young "small characters" under the continuous strengthening of Boeing. Because of this, Boeing has been advocating a new generation of technology to improve the F-15 fighter so that it maintains a performance advantage over the "four and a half generations" fighter. But the U.S. Air Force has been reluctant to do so, fearing that the F-15 improvement program will siphon off the budget for the development of fifth-generation aircraft. However, when the F-22 is out of production and the F-35 is lagging behind, the US military has to accept the F-15EX project to make up for the lack of the number of fifth-generation aircraft fleets.
The propaganda for the F-15EX fighter jet released by Boeing states that it will be equipped with the world's fastest computer, fly-by-wire system and advanced electronic radar.
The F-15EX has been upgraded gradually. First of all, since 2007, Boeing has replaced the active F-15E with an active phased array radar and a new avionics system, making its air combat capability better than that of its predecessor F-15C, becoming a real "attack eagle". Subsequently, in 2009, Boeing proposed an improved F-15SE kit, codenamed "Silent Eagle", which changed the conformal fuel tank to a bomb bay containing two missiles and reduced its radar reflection cross-section.
Although the F-15SE's straight air intake and square fuselage shape are still difficult to fully display on the radar screen, the supporting digital electronic warfare system can create a large number of false targets and increase the probability of penetrating the air defense network. Since the aircraft is still not comparable to the F-35 in terms of survivability, which has both the best appearance and advanced electronic warfare technology, and there is no interest from foreign buyers, the F-15SE project ended in nothing.
Subsequently, Boeing launched the F-15 2040C upgrade kit, trying to increase the number of AIM-120D medium-range air-to-air missiles carried by the aircraft to "8 on the fuselage + 8 under the wings" by lightening the conformal fuel tank and strengthening the multi-pylon mount. Although the maneuverability of the aircraft will become miserable at this time, the long-range search capability of the phased array radar and the ultra-long range of the ALM-120D missile can exceed the combination of the US Navy's "F-14 fighter + AIM-54C 'Immortal Bird' long-range air-to-air missile" in that year.
The F-15 2040C will increase the number of external missiles from eight to 16, and in addition to the United States, Japan is also interested in procuring.
In 2018, Boeing also recommended the F-15D DJ Magic Modification "Super Interceptor" to the Japan Air Self-Defense Force. It can carry 2 AIM-120 air-to-air missiles under the fuselage, 4 missiles each on the 2 outer pylons under the main wing, and 4 missiles on each side of the fuel tank pylons. This brings the total number to 18 advanced medium-range air-to-air missiles, which have a strong advantage in traditional interception operations.
On the other hand, after integrating the technology of the F-15 2040C upgrade project, Boeing has developed the F-15SA fighter for the Saudi Air Force and the F-15QA fighter for the Qatari Air Force. The two countries have paid a lot of money for the development of two top-of-the-line F-15 fighter modifications, which also dilutes the cost of subsequent F-15 improvements.
The F-15SA is a luxury version of Boeing's configuration for Saudi Arabia, and the F-15EX is based on this model.
The most significant exterior feature of the F-15SA fighter is the restoration of the pair of outboard hardpoints on the wing that was removed from the earlier F-15 fighter. Previously, the F-15 family gave the impression that there was only a pair of underwing heavy-duty pylons, mainly for carrying large 2,271-liter drop fuel tanks, and occasionally for ground-to-ground munitions. This pair of heavy-duty pylons is a composite pylon, with launch slides on both sides, which can carry AIM-9 or AIM-120 air-to-air missiles.
In fact, when McDonnell Douglas was developing the F-15, it designed four hardpoints for the wings, and the two small hardpoints on the outside were specially used to mount electronic warfare pods. However, in the case of the failure of the analog stabilization system, the flight control system could not maintain the flight quality in the main envelope area, so the pair of hardpoints were simply canceled and the ALQ-135 (V) electronic warfare system was placed in the fuselage.
In 1994, in order to improve the F-15's anti-radiation combat capability, the pair of small hardpoints was re-activated for the installation of pylons to mount AGM-88 "Hamm" anti-radiation missiles. Eight F-15Cs received this modification, but in the end it ended due to flight stability problems. In order to ensure the stability of the F-15SA after the addition of outboard hardpoints, Boeing has equipped a new full-authority digital fly-by-wire flight control system, eliminating the mechanical backup and analog system, which solves this problem. The F-15SA also became the first F-15 fighter to be equipped with a fly-by-wire flight control system.
In 1994, the United States reactivated the outboard pylons on the basis of the F-15C fighter, but eventually abandoned the program due to stability problems.
Boeing soon after delivering the F-15SA and F-15QA, introduced the new F-15X, which was later renamed the F-15EX. In fact, the F-15EX was proposed on the basis of the F-15QA fighter jet that Boeing is producing for Qatar. Due to the use of mature technology, there is basically not much development cost, and there are orders for export machines, so that Boeing's F-15 production line will not be closed before 2022. Because the F-15EX fighter is similar to the F-15E "Strike Eagle" in terms of logistics support and pilot transfer difficulty, it has great advantages over the new model in terms of refitting and maintenance.
Carry it out and reload it to the end.
The F-15EX uses an upgraded "Advanced Missile and Bomb Projectile Pylon", which is actually a modular twin missile pylon. The F-15EX can carry a total of five Amber pylons under the conformal fuel tank and on the belly centerline, and four more Amber pylons under the wings. In addition to the original twin slides of the main pylon of the wing, a total of 20 medium-range AIM-120D air-to-air missiles and 2 short-range AIM-9X air-to-air missiles can be mounted, becoming a veritable "arsenal aircraft".
From the belly, you can clearly see the external layout of the new generation of F-15 "Magic Modification" aircraft.
In addition to air-to-air munitions, the F-15EX can also carry up to 28 GPS-guided small-diameter bombs, or a certain number of AGM-88 anti-radiation missiles, JSOW standoff ammunition spreaders, and even AGM-84 Harpoon anti-ship missiles to carry out strikes against sea targets. In addition, Boeing said that the F-15EX will be able to carry and launch AGM-183A hypersonic missiles in the future, which can easily break through the air defense network built by the current S-400 S-500 surface-to-air missile system of the Russian army. Given that it is simply impossible for such a missile to fit into the magazine of the F-35A, the significance of the F-15EX is even more significant.
The F-15EX fighter uses Amber composite pylons, which makes the number of missiles carried by the aircraft show a geometric increase.
With more ammo, of course, you also need to have a good eye. In terms of detection equipment, the F-15EX is equipped with a new APG-82(V)1 active phased array radar with a frequency-tunable filter that can simultaneously scan and jam at full power, and the maintainability is also greatly enhanced. In addition, the F-15EX critical avionics system has been further upgraded, and the aircraft is equipped with the "Legion" pod with the IRST21 infrared search and tracking system, which has the ability to detect high-resolution infrared passive detection in the air and enhance the ability to counter stealth air targets.
The F-15EX is trial-installed with the new APG-B2(V)1 active phased array radar.
The US military equips the F-15C fighter with a "Legion" pod with an RST21 infrared search and tracking system.
The U.S. Air Force had a 1$9.8 billion for 133 long-wave infrared search trackers for F-15C D fighter jets. This kind of equipment can detect the high-temperature exhaust gases discharged by the engines of enemy aircraft, and through cross-comparison with radar data, this equipment is very effective in dealing with fighters with relatively backward engine technology and imperfect infrared stealth technology. In addition, the F-15EX is equipped with a new passive active warning and survivability system, which replaces the old TEWS electronic warfare system with a digital active and passive warning and surveillance system, and improves the ability to detect, jam, block, and decoy new anti-aircraft missiles.
The F-15EX features advanced fly-by-wire flight control systems, modern digital displays, and helmet-mounted sights. In order to process the vast amount of information transmitted by various advanced sensors, Boeing has also developed the "Advanced Display Core Processor", which is claimed to be the fastest computer in today's fighter jets. It can integrate data provided by radar, infrared, electronic warfare systems and data links with logical calculations and fuse them into information that is easy for pilots to understand.
In addition, the open mission system architecture will also allow the U.S. Air Force to update the software on the F-15EX fighter jets more quickly. The F-15EX fighter cockpit also uses large screens to represent complex theater dynamics, and Boeing has previously selected Israel's Elbit company's large-area display as a preset improvement package, as well as a low-profile head-up display.
A 22-inch LCD touchscreen from the Israeli company Elbit will be installed on the F-15EX fighter.
Change the engine. In late June 2020, the U.S. Air Force awarded General Electric a contract for the first batch of F-15EX engines worth a total of $1$0.1 billion. Under the contract, GE will supply "the F110-GE-129 engine, including installation and spare parts, as well as a modernized engine monitoring computer system." Compared with the F100 early model engines of the F-15 in service with the U.S. military, the F110-GE-129 has better maintenance performance, lower maintenance costs, greater thrust, and of course more fuel economy. In addition, the aircraft has a staggering 20,000 hours of fuselage life, making it enough to last for decades.
The increased thrust from the re-issuance allows the F-15EX fighter to carry the AGM-183A hypersonic missile. The missile, which is still under development, is temporarily carried by B-52H strategic bombers, each of which can carry 2 pieces. If the F-15EX fighter wants to carry AGM-183A missiles, it may be similar to the Russian MiG-31BM fighter carrying the "Dagger" missile.
The F-15EX fighter is equipped with the F110-GE-129 engine, and the F-16C D fighter also uses this type of engine to test the F-15 fighter with the "Immortal Bird" long-range air-to-air missile, which can carry large-sized missiles in its belly space.
The first prototype was flown off.
On February 2, 2021, the first F-15EX fighter jet of the US Air Force made its maiden flight. The aircraft flew with only a small serial number (20-001) on the primer and twin tails, and it received an official livery and logo after completing functional checks and airworthiness certifications. Through the lens of a photojournalist, we can see more details about the F-15EX fighter.
From the close-up shots of the front fuselage and cockpit, we can see that the pilot and the ** system officer are wearing the new "Joint Helmet Cue System 2". This is a new helmet-mounted sighting system that has been distributed to pilots of various US military aircraft. Not only does it dramatically improve combat performance, but it also significantly reduces the burden on the pilot's head, neck, and spine.
On February 2, 2021, the U.S. Air Force's first F-15EX fighter jet conducted a test flight.
Looking closely at the cockpit, we can also find another detail, and that is that the aircraft features a new low-profile head-up display from Elbit Systems. The company is also a manufacturer of JHMCS 2 helmets. The new HUD, which is more compact and lighter than conventional systems, is now installed on Gripen E F fighters and F A-18E F Block3 Super Hornet fighters.
In addition to the AN APG-82(V)1 radar, the first F-15EX also has BAE Systems' AN ALQ-250 Hawk passive active warning and survivability system. The latter can effectively detect threats from the ground and the air in an environment with dense signals and fierce combat, and launch jamming missiles in a targeted manner to counter them.
The first flight of the F-15EX fighter jet is equipped with the "Hawk" passive active warning and survivability system provided by BAE Systems in the red circle.
In addition, the F-15EX has a 50% increase in jamming bomb capacity, allowing it to be released preemptively against man-portable anti-aircraft missiles that can be found everywhere on the battlefield. On the sides of the F-15EX, we can see more clearly the FAST tactical conformal fuel tanks, these 2839The 1-liter (750-gallon) conformal fuel tank was often used on the F-15E. They also have 6 ** mounting points and a "sniper" sensor mounting point.
Judging from the current world situation, there are only a few major powers that can use the "machine-sea tactics" against the United States, and the F-15X, as a non-stealth fighter, may become the first to be attacked in the confrontation of the air combat system. Because of this, there is no consensus in the United States about the Air Force equipping the F-15EX fighter jet.
The American magazine "The National Interest" once published an article by Sebastian Roeblin entitled "F-15X: Is it the next generation of super fighters in the Air Force, or is it a waste of research and development time". He said that while the F-35 project faced cost overruns and delivery delays in the early stages. However, the eventual reduction in the cost of a single aircraft means that the difference between the F-15EX and the F-35 may not be significant. If this is the case, it will be worth the loss for the US Air Force to spend a large budget on non-stealth fighters that are not much cheaper.
However, supporters of the F-15EX said that in addition to the procurement cost of the F-35A stealth fighter, its combat cost is still relatively high. The F-15EX has significantly reduced operating costs due to the use of mature airframe and supporting equipment. Boeing believes that thanks to the new airframe and advanced turbofan engines, the F-15EX is not only much less expensive to run than the F-35, but even significantly lower than the now aging F-15C D fighter, from about 4 hours per flight hour$20,000 dropped to $2$70,000. In this way, the operating cost savings in just 10 years are equivalent to the purchase cost of the machine.
Proponents also cited the example of the U.S. Navy, which is also equipped with F-35C carrier-based fighters, but is still improving the F-18E F carrier-based fighters, so the Air Force's choice of the F-15EX is not a "reversal of history" behavior.
Pictured: Germany** is planning to order 45 fighter jets from Boeing of the United States, including 30 F A-18E F Super Hornet fighters and 15 EA-18G Growler electronic warfare aircraft. The aircraft will be used to replace the Luftwaffe's European-made Tornado fighters in service. The latter has been in service for nearly 40 years since 1983 and has reached the age of retirement.
At present, the U.S. Air Force has clearly ordered the F-15EX fighter jet, which is also regarded as an important part of the future "4+1" framework, which proves that this fighter will become one of the opponents that we need to pay close attention to in the future. Whether it is air power or sea power, the "Magic Eagle" of the F-15EX cannot be taken lightly.