Aircraft Profile: Boeing F-15 Strike Eagle

The US Air Force initiated the F-X fighter programme in response to the surprise appearance of the Soviet Union’s MiG-25 Foxbat.

Fairchild Republic, McDonnell Douglas and North American Rockwell competed for the F-X contract award. The USAF also asked NASA to submit advanced designs.

McDonnell Douglas’ (now Boeing) design team relied heavily on NASA’s LFAX-8 fighter concept, one of the agency’s four proposed responses. With a 608sqft wingspan producing low wing-loading for agile maneuvering and a high engine thrust to weight ratio, the USAF selected the McDonnell Douglas design in 1968.

After achieving first flight in July 1972, the F-15 Streak Eagle broke the world time-to-climb ratio in 1975. The Streak Eagle reached an altitude of 98,425ft only 3min, 27.8sec after brake release on the runway.

The F-15A-D and the F-15E Strike Eagle variant has been purchased by the USAF, and the governments of Israel, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Singapore and South Korea.

Customers can choose between the General Electric F110 engine or the original Pratt & Whiney F100 engine. A Raytheon APG-63 mechanically-scanned array is the original radar, but Boeing has upgraded the F-15E and foreign versions to the APG-63(V)2/3 active electronically scanned array (AESA).

The F-15 has maintained an unblemished combat record, although one Japanese F-15J pilot was shot down by a missile accidentally fired by his wingman in 1995.

Boeing F-15A cutaway