F-15 Eagle Celebrates Silver Anniversary

F-15 Eagle Celebrates Silver Anniversary

by Tech. Sgt. Rick DelaHaya
Air Force News
July 30, 1997
http://www.af.mil/news/Jul1997/n19970730_970928.html

ELMENDORF AIR FORCE BASE, Alaska (AFNS) -- It was the summer of 1972. The Democratic National Committee headquarters was broken into, and the Watergate scandal began to unravel. Pocket calculators cost $150 and weighed in at 2.5 pounds.

American moviegoers were standing in line for tickets to see "The Godfather" when the F-15 Eagle made its first inaugural flight July 27.

The F-15 Eagle celebrates its 25th anniversary this month and is considered by many as the most advanced tactical fighter in the world.

The Air Force requested development funding for the new fighter in 1965. In 1969, McDonnell Douglas Corp. was selected as the prime airframe contractor. Three years later, the first $15 million aircraft took flight.

In 1974, the first F-15B was delivered to the 58th Tactical Training Wing, Luke Air Force Base, Ariz.

The F-15's role is that of an all-weather, extremely maneuverable, tactical fighter designed to gain and maintain air superiority in aerial combat. Powered by two Pratt and Whitney F100 turbofan engines with afterburners, it can climb to altitudes more than 65,000 feet and can reach a top speed of 1,875 miles per hour, or Mach 2.5-plus at sea level.

"It's the best air-to-air fighter in the world today," said Lt. Col. Bill Shaw III, commander of the 54th Fighter Squadron at Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska. "Because of the avionics and weaponry, it's just an awesome aircraft that no one can touch."

Shaw has been flying the F-15 since 1983, and is just short of 2,300 hours in the cockpit. According to Shaw, the F-15 was built to accomplish two major air-to-air improvements over the F-4's capabilities.

The first was look-down, shoot-down capability of the radar, Shaw said. The versatile pulse-Doppler radar system can look up at high-flying targets, he explained, or can look down below the altitude the pilot is currently flying. The radar can then see through any ground clutter and be able to find any target.

The system is so advanced that it can track aircraft and small high-speed targets at distances beyond visual range down to close range, and at altitudes down to tree-top level.

"The pulse-Doppler radar is what they built this aircraft around," he said.

The second, Shaw said, was the incorporation of HOTAS, or Hands On Throttles And Stick.

"What this does is enable the pilot to keep his head on a swivel and looking outside the cockpit," explained Shaw. "This lets the pilot gain a visual on the target and keep him 'padlocked' or within his sight while he works things on the stick and throttles.

"It's kind of like playing a musical instrument such as a piccolo or piano."

Combining HOTAS and the look-down, shoot-down capability of the aircraft are the biggest advantages right off the bat to the average fighter pilot, Shaw said.

Although the aircraft is 25 years old, it still has a lot of advantages going for it. Three of these, according to Shaw, include its maneuverability, the radar and the AMRAAM, or advanced medium range air-to-air missile.

However, the aircraft does have one major disadvantage, Shaw conceded. "It's big."

With a wingspan of 42 feet, the aircraft is very easy to see when it starts to maneuver.

The F-22 Raptor is scheduled to replace the F-15 in the near future, but it won't be the end of an era, Shaw explained.

"It will just continue a tradition of building an airframe that has overwhelming superiority and it will contribute to the air dominance that the United States has enjoyed throughout its military history."

Nevertheless, don't count the F-15 out of the fight just yet. The Eagle will probably stay in the inventory 15 years longer than anyone had in mind, he said. "I used to think it was kind of funny that B-52 pilots were flying aircraft older than them.

Now, I've got fighter pilots flying for me who are very close in age to the F-15."

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