In the very fluid, changing face of aerial warfare, the U.S. Air Force’s F-15EX Eagle II, also known as “Super Eagle,” is working waves with its record firepower and versatility. This advanced derivative from the F-15QA for Qatar is designed to lug a huge missile load and hence is a counting member of the most heavily armed fighter jets in the USAF stable. The first delivery to Eglin Air Force Base was on 11 March 2021, with a second on 20 April 2021 for operational testing. The USAF is making plans to retire the antiquated Apache-platform F-15C/Ds, including a significant overhaul to its air combat readiness strategy.
Truly, the F-15EX is much more than an incremental jump ahead in capability. It also has full digital fly-by-wire flight controls, a Large Area Display (LAD) glass cockpit with touch interfaces, and advanced radar systems like the APG-82 AESA. Other improvements that enhance pilot safety and effectiveness are the Joint Helmet-Mounted Cueing System and the Eagle Passive/Active Warning and Survivability System.
One of the most astounding features of the F-15EX deals with that platform’s armament flexibility. The previous statement from the 53rd Wing agrees with the allowable twelve Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missiles and three Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missiles that the Eagle II was taking, all successfully test-fired over Eglin Air Force Base, compared with the eight missiles other former F-15 models bore.
At the heart of this expansion is the AMBER system that increases the capacity of the aircraft for air-to-air missiles by 50% to 12 and totals 23 weapon stations. You do this through the AMBER missile rack system, which allows the F-15EX to function as a missile truck when collaborating with those fifth-generation fighters in the stealthy F-35 Lightning II.
That said, some remain less sanguine about the F-15EX’s promise in the balance. A former F-16 pilot who served as the 2020 Mitchell Institute Forum Chair, Heather Penney-now a Senior Resident Fellow at the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies-has labeled the F-15EX program a technological “dead end.” An aircraft that is not stealthy, the F-15EX will thus be of limited utility-again, in her assessment of modern air combat with a defensive orientation. The conversation cornerstone instead should be to add more F-35As and build new stealth fighters.
This was an observation by one Penney, who pointed out that, in the current scenario facing the USAF over Syria, stealth fighter jets needed to be deployed. The threat posed included the Russian-sourced S-400 surface-to-air missile system, pointing out further that the modern battlespace demanded – as a basic entry prerequisite – higher levels of advanced stealth capabilities.
Adding to the debate, some in the U.S. fleet of F-15E Strike Eagles have flown recently with conformal fuel tanks (CFTs) removed to achieve higher performance in certain air-to-air missions. This of course is coming in concert with discussions about what the future F-15EX configuration will look like since the first operational units will not include CFTs. This decision is going to set up all sorts of questions associated with the mission capabilities of the F-15EX in the ground-attack role, although it may still serve as a launch platform to carry outsized standoff strike weapons in the future.
As the USAF continues to put the F-15EX through testing and evaluation, strong debate exists on where exactly this aircraft fits into a modern-day aerial combat scenario. While, yes, the F-15EX offers powerful new capabilities in the realm of firepower and versatility, its lack of stealth and the developing threat environments from potential future adversaries, such as Russia and China, very much put challenges to bear which can’t be ignored.