The McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle, afterwards added than 25 years of service, was still the U.S. Air Force's arch fighter as the year 2000 approached. It is the alone aircraft in the U.S. Air Force armory able of ablution the ASAT anti-satellite missile. It additionally serves with the air armament of Israel, Japan and Saudi Arabia.
The F-15 consistently is upgraded to accommodate avant-garde equipment. It can access adversary defenses and can beat and outfight any accepted or projected enemy. The Eagle's air ahead is due to its avant-garde avionics, its ambit and weaponry, and its aberrant maneuverability. One being can finer accomplish air-to-air action application its avant-garde systems to detect, acquire, clue and advance adversary aircraft.
The F-15's low-wing loading (the arrangement of aircraft weight to its addition area), accumulated with its aerial agent thrust-to-weight ratio, allows it to about-face deeply after accident airspeed. Under any ablaze conditions, abstracts from the chip avionics arrangement is projected on the windscreen, so the pilot can clue and abort an adversary aircraft after accepting to attending bottomward at cockpit instruments.
Between Jan. 16 and Feb. 1, 1975, an F-15A nicknamed "Streak Eagle" bankrupt eight time-to-climb apple records. It accomplished an distance of 98,425 anxiety aloof 3 account 27.8 abnormal from anchor absolution at ascent and coasted to about 103,000 anxiety afore descending.
The aboriginal Eagle entered account in November 1974 with the 58th Tactical Training Addition at Luke Air Force Base, Ariz. The aboriginal Air Force air aegis fleet to alteration to the F-15 was the 48th Fighter-Interceptor Fleet at Langley Air Force Base, Va., in January 1982. By 1989, added than 1,200 Eagles were in service; best were congenital by McDonnell Douglas in St. Louis, Mo., and added than 110 were congenital by Mitsubishi of Japan.
The single-seat F-15C and two-seat F-15D models were followed by the two-seat, dual-role F-15E "Strike Eagle," the world's best technologically avant-garde fighter. With added burden capacity, the F-15E flew for the aboriginal time on Dec. 11, 1986. The F-15E Strike Eagle can fly college than 50,000 anxiety at added than Mach 2.5. It can fly air-to-air, air-to-ground, long-range, day or night missions, in any affectionate of weather.
Information
Origin: USA
Type: air-superiority fighter with accessory strike/attack role
Max Speed: 1,433 kt / 1,650 mph
Max Range: 5,745 km / 3,570 miles
Dimensions: amount 13.05 m / 42 ft 9.75 in breadth 19.43 m / 63 ft 9 in acme 5.63 m / 18 ft 5.5 in
Weight: abandoned 12,973 kg / 28,600 lb max. abandonment 30,844 kg / 68,000 lb
Powerplant: two 10782-kg (23,770-lb) afterburning advance Pratt & Whitney F100-P-220 turbofans
Armament: air-to-air ammunition comprises one 20-mm M61A1 Vulcan six-barrel cannon and accouterment for four AIM-9L/M Sidewinder and four AIM-7F/M Sparrow AAMs or eight AIM-120A AMRAAMs; back configured for the advance role with bristles weapon stations (including two on CFTs) up to 10705 kg (23,600 Ib) of bombs, rockets and added air-to-surface weapons can be carried
Operators: Israel, Japan, Saudi Arabia, United States
