From Boeing:
“The F-15 Silent Eagle is designed to meet our international customers’ anticipated need for cost-effective stealth technologies, as well as for large and diverse weapons payloads,” said Mark Bass, F-15 Program vice president for Boeing. “The innovative Silent Eagle is a balanced, affordable approach designed to meet future survivability needs.” … The Silent Eagle will be able to internally carry air-to-air missiles such as the AIM-9 and AIM-120 and air-to-ground weapons such as the Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) and Small Diameter Bomb (SDB). The standard weapons load used on current versions of the F-15 is available with the traditional CFTs installed. The aircraft’s canted vertical tails improve aerodynamic efficiency, provide lift, and reduce airframe weight.
The biggest visible changes are the otward-canted vetical tails and the conformal weapons pods. These conformal pods have been used before, but as fuel pods, and attachement points for external ordnance:
Not seen in the two photos are the jet engine exhaust nozzles. There *may* be something interesting going on there… perhaps thrust-vectoring nozzles like on the F-22?
UPDATE: More photos here. Still no clear shots of the nozzle,s but there is one kinda-overhead view where you can see back to ’em; and from this angle they appear to be pretty normal. The vertical tails, however, look “broken.”
9 Responses to “Boeing unveils F-15SE”
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You *could* say it took them nearly 30 years to put the put the original FAST pack concept to work. (Well, at least in mockup form. 😉 )
I hope all these weapons we’re selling have a hidden remote controled on-off switch.
I hope so JP, then the UK and other nations can pick up the slack in US orders once the ‘switch’ is discovered.;)
> I hope all these weapons we’re selling have a hidden remote controled on-off switch.
Immediately after 9-11, I heard a great deal of screaming about how we could soon expect to see airliners blasted out of the sky by all the Stingers we gave to the Mujahadeen in Afghanistan. Yet I don’t recall a single instance of such being used, indicating that they must have had a shelf life. If nothing else, the onboard batteries probably died, and they were either non-rechargable, or not easily replacable.
> the UK and other nations can pick up the slack
Just as well. If we have to blow them out of the sky, it’s better for PR purposes that they not be American weapons systems. It always looks good to see American equipment easily trashing the inferior products of non-US companies. Heck, when was the last time the US went to war against someone weilding any meaningful US-built military capability? For all the lies about how “the US armed Saddam,” it always seemed to be MiGs that the F-15s were blasting out of the sky and T-72’s that A-10s were turning into flaming garbage and AK-47s being thrown into the dirt in the retreats in the face of M-16s.
The “broken” vertical fins are probably to allow the new fin with the outward-canted top to be installed on the standard production aft fuselage.
I don’t know how stealthy it’s going to be with those big rectangular intakes unless they did something to their internal geometry also. The internal weapons stowage probably makes it cruise a little faster though by cutting down drag. Unfortunately , it also takes out a lot of the fuel stowage area that the pods provide
Boeing is being very, very smart here.
Rolling out this “stealthy” F-15 is a direct attempt at killing the F-22 program.
This, especially in today’s “enlightened” political climate. I’m sure The Obama and his disciples are not going to be long in claiming that the “Silent Eagle” can “do almost everything the F-22 can but at just a tenth the cost” and thus drive a stake through the Raptor’s heart.
Mind you, not that they’ll pony up the cash to build enough Silent Eagles to make any sort of difference. But they will be sure to kill the F-22 simply because Boeing has rolled out a “perfectly acceptable” alternative to it. Shortly thereafter, expect a similar fate for the F-35.
None of this has anything at all to do with the actual capabilities of the Silent Eagle. Just a bit of politicking that is now sure to follow.
Madoc
> Rolling out this “stealthy” F-15 is a direct attempt at killing the F-22 program.
The F-22 looks pretty doomed anyway:
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2009/03/17/gates_readies_big_cuts_in_weapons/
” Two defense officials who were not authorized to speak publicly said Gates will announce up to a half-dozen major weapons cancellations later this month. Candidates include a new Navy destroyer, the Air Force’s F-22 fighter jet, and Army ground-combat vehicles, the offi cials said.”
This came out a day before the F-15SE was announced.
> “Silent Eagle” can “do almost everything the F-22 can but at just a tenth the cost”
If only the F-15SE didn’t cost $100 million *each.*
> installed on the standard production aft fuselage.
The F-15’s are getting pretty old. I’m a bit leery of major mods to creaky old planes.
Admin said:
“The F-15’s are getting pretty old. I’m a bit leery of major mods to creaky old planes.”
I assumed these would be new-builds using the old tooling, and this modification set is to make them look more competitive to the F-22.
Of course that doesn’t mean they will get made; remember the “Super F-111” competition for the B-1, and the F-16XL, which was the low cost alternative to the F-15E Strike Eagle IIRC.