F-15EX Eagle II, Famous as Bomb Truck and Flying Arsenal

The F-15EX is an aircraft that breaks all records in its category in terms of the number and tonnage of ammunition it carries.

The F-15EX can carry more than 13.6 tonnes of ammunition, which is much higher than the carrying capacity of its previous variants. This makes it what some military aviation experts call a "bomb truck", "flying arsenal".

The newest model of the American-made F-15 Eagle fighter, also known as the "powerful F-15EX Eagle II", has set significant records in terms of the amount and tonnage of weapons carried, according to test flights announced this year. 

The F-15EX Eagle II can carry 12 air-to-air missiles, 4 more than its predecessor (F-15E) carried (8). The 12 air-to-air missiles are more than any other fighter aircraft in the USAF inventory, including the F-16 Fighting Falcon, F-35 and F-22 Raptor.  

The powerful F-15EX can carry a tonnage of more than 13.6 tonnes of ammunition, much more than its predecessors. These figures make the new F-15 airframe by far the most heavy-duty air superiority flying platform in the world.

Overview of the F-15EX's roots

In the late 1980s, the McDonnell Douglas (now Boeing) designed F-15E Strike Eagle entered service with the US Air Force.

Derived from the F-15 Eagle, this new platform was designed and built to perform long-range, high-speed flights without the need for escort or electronic warfare aircraft.

Unlike other variants of the Eagle family, the F-15E features conformal fuel tanks positioned along the fuselage's engine intake ramps and a cockpit with tandem seats. Although the F-15E has undergone some major model upgrades since entering service, the latest model upgrade has been, and will continue to be, much more handsome.

In addition to fly-by-wire flight controls and new weapon systems, the Eagle II features an all-new electronic warfare package, advanced radar and conformal fuel tanks. Approximately 30 per cent of this new Eagle variant is designed to utilise unique design features specific to the needs of the US Air Force; the export version will not have these unique design features. Open source information on these unique design features is not yet available.

The Eagle II is also now fully wired. Instead of the previous generation of pulleys and cables, the aircraft now digitally interprets how the pilot moves the controls, and then electronic signals talk to the rest of the aircraft. Pilots sometimes say that in this type of aircraft they feel they are just voting, they literally vote by moving the stick to tell the aircraft what to do, the flight control computer does the rest.

The Open Mission Systems (OMS) architecture, which enables rapid integration of the latest features and systems, is the foundation on which the F-15EX is built. Plus, this fourth (4+++) generation platform is also expected to work with fifth-generation fighters such as the F-35 and F-22 Raptor in some missions. 

In addition, the Eagle II will be the first fighter aircraft in the US Air Force with the new Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missile (HACM). This is a combat capability that even the F-35 Lightning II does not have. Hypersonic missiles cannot be placed in the closed weapons bays of fifth generation fighters. 

Pilots will now have a 19 x 10-inch high-resolution colour touchscreen in their cockpits. A secondary screen is available in the rear seat for use if the rear seat is occupied, but the aircraft will probably be flown by a single pilot most of the time.

It is also anticipated that the F-15EX will be the first USAF aircraft to carry laser weapons. This capability is likely to be one of the aircraft's secret USAF-only features.

Discussions around the new Eagle II

At a cost of about 90 million US dollars per airframe, the F-15EX Eagle II is more expensive than the F-35 Lightning II fighter at 80 million US dollars per jet. But depending on how you do the maths, many experts will argue the opposite. The Eagle II's longer-lasting airframe justifies claims that its cost is lower than the F-35.

It is appropriate to note that the airframe life of each F-35EX is estimated at 20,000 hours, compared to the F-35's airframe life of 8,000 hours. This means that the US Air Force would have to buy three F-15As instead of one to fly the same total number of hours as one F-35EX. Obviously, the new and powerful F-15EX Eagle II is expected to be more than three times more durable than its fifth-generation counterpart, the F-35 Lightning II. This is a formidable structural durability claim. 

The aircraft's EX upgrades allow it to perform the same bomber missions as the two-seat F-15E, while operating for 20,000 flight hours at US$29,000 per hour. This is one-third of the hourly cost of flying an F-35.

In addition, the upgrades provided to the F-15E aircraft under EX will enable this fighter to perform the same bomber functions for one-third of the operating cost of the F-35.

The US Air Force has reduced the total expected purchase of Eagle II fighters from 144 to 80. Experts claim that this reduction was influenced by the US Air Force's Next Generation Air Dominance Programme (NGAD), which comes with a high price tag. According to them; "It was imperative to reduce the number of F-35EX to focus on the F-15A as the backbone of the US Tactical fleet. It is also estimated that reducing the number of F-15EX Eagle II orders was a gamble that the US Air Force had to undertake, especially for the future of NGAD, which will be very much on the agenda after 2024.

The F-15EX is clearly more capable than the F-35 for largely unclassified missions and will be cheaper to buy and operate.

From the outside, the aircraft has a decades-old design, which means it is something it is not: stealth. Fifth generation fighters like the F-35 are designed to evade enemy radar. The F-15EX or any Eagle is as obvious in the air as a sumo wrestler. Of course, its radar visibility is reduced with RAM (Radar Absorbent Material) paints, but it is not a stealth aircraft.

Stealth is the cost of being able to enter any battlefield unseen, and how great the internal sensors, avionics and electronic warfare capabilities are not as valuable as stealth.

Fighter aircraft operating in modern enemy defence areas, where sensor detection will be high, must have a triple capability: stealth, information systems available to the pilot in a manageable way, and the ability to conduct electronic warfare and jam an adversary. Unfortunately, despite its excellent aerodynamic design and enormous payload, you can't put the 4++++ generation F-15EX Eagle II on the modern battlefield like the ugly and fat 5th generation F-35 Lightening II, despite its much lower weapon variety and payload, because the Eagle II lacks one of those legs (stealth).

It is worth noting that F-15s have traditionally been the best dogfighters in the USAF arsenal, and remain the most combat-experienced fighter aircraft in the world (140 downed aircraft in the air). The upgrades given to the aircraft in the EX renewal take these combat capabilities to another level.

The "Strong and Noble Eagle", reborn as the F-15EX Eagle II, is expected to be the main pillar of the US Air Force in the coming years. The F-15EX with new generation technologies will undoubtedly serve the serious operational needs of the US Air Force.

Some of the capabilities on the aircraft, which are exclusive to the USAF, show that the USAF has several roles planned for the F-15EX Eagle II aircraft in the coming years. This aircraft can be expected to form the backbone of US domestic and global operations.