The F-15EX Eagle II: How and Why the F-15 Got Unbelievably Good

when America needs defending you call in the Eagles for going on 50 years the madonald Douglas today Boeing F-15 Eagle has been America's Frontline Workhorse among its fight jet Arsenal and the results have spoken for themselves between a 104 to zero win loss rate in direct AAL combat spots of Honor in the air forces of some of America's most important allies and its exceptional reliability and Longevity as a platform the F-15 and its descendant aircraft have distinguished themselves at every turn now even in a us a force that has not one but two Cutting Edge fighter aircraft at its disposal both with globally unmatched capabilities the F-15 still manages to keep Pace yet for all its combat glory for all its critical Acclaim the F-15 still manages to keep one special secret that despite still sharing its shape and size with a plane that existed 50 years ago the F15 of today is an entirely different Beast than its outwardly identical but far more Antiquated carbon copy and right now as we speak a new iteration of the F15 is rolling off the production line for the very first time poised to become one of the very best weapons of America's wartime Arsenal this is the story of the Boeing F-15 ex Eagle 2 the successor aircraft meant to take the Reigns from the F-15 Eagle and push America's Air Force to newer and Greater Heights just before we continue with today's video I want to tell you about something there been a game changer for so many guys out there but not for me cuz I am super bold and that is keeps now look as I just said I already Bal but some of you might be just going bold you might be thinking you are going to go Bor because your whole family is Bal this was me in my early 20s and you might be thinking I'd like to have my hair a little bit longer and that's where keeps coms in look if it was 10 years ago oh God 15 years ago now I've Been b a long time I'd be all over keeps it's an online subscription service that makes it super easy and affordable for men to 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keeps sponsoring this video for a special offer to get started go to keeps.com Simon or click the link in the description below that's ks.com Simon and now back to today's video [Music] the original F-15 Eagle traces its lineage back to the beginnings of its development program in the mid1 1960s when an American adversary learned the hard way that when potential future Battlefield enemies brag about platforms that aren't really all that behind the scenes the United States tends to respond not by trying to get a look at the thing but by engineering a bigger batter platform as their answer in this case it was the Mig 25 foxbat Interceptor aircraft out of Russia boasting extreme high speeds at high altitude and convincing American that it was about to be outclassed the answer was the first generation F-15 and while the foxbat turned out to be a bit of a dud the F-15 it didn't boasting maximum speeds at two and a half times the speed of sound flying at over twice the altitude of a modern-day commercial airliner and capable of carrying enough ordinance to make a contemporary Soviet pilot just eject and save himself the dog fight the eagle was a crowning achievement for the United States in the half century Long Cold War fast forward another half century though and the problems that led to the eagle to weren't quite So Glamorous by that time in the mid-2010s the United States already had an aerial asset that no Global adversary could challenged in the F-22 it was just beginning to introduce a new aircraft into service the F-35 and aircraft where the Pentagon was still intended to go all in despite Myriad problems delays and cost overruns enemy aircrafts were not the problem instead the problem was the Air Forces long war against the red pen wielded by America's own budget officers looking to tie it in the country's belt after the Cold War War concluded America wasn't planning on any InterContinental world wars anytime soon and as a result to Cuts against programs like the F22 the Air Force was projected to run low on air superiority Fighters for a span of years and potentially even decades those programs were too expensive to restart once the US realized its misstep and with the F35 sucking funds out of any room where a Department of Defense official dared whisper its name there weren't many other options the Air Force could extend the life of some of its older f-15s for air superiority upgrading their onics and pushing their retirement date back but that was nothing more than a stop Gap measure and one that American military leaders knew wouldn't be sustainable either but over at Boeing the longtime owner of the F-15 after it acquired McDonald Douglas back in the day the F-15 was already showing potential far beyond what America had achieved the planes in question weren't going to the United States at all instead they were going to Saudi Arabia and Qatar in the form of two Advanced models that built on the ability ities of the initial F-15 design and rounded them out in a pretty major way they were evolutions on the F-15 e Strike Eagle itself an immensely popular variant of the Bas F-15 and the new improvements were already impressive enough to set them apart Boeing had the designs the world had better f-15s America just hadn't bothered to procure them yet not only that but shifts in thinking around American Air superiority strategy LED military planners to the conclusion that a new F-15 could have value and longevity all its own fifth generation Fighters are generally speaking really really impressive pieces of hardware and it's hard to invent a battle that they aren't able to win but they're not always necessary either using a more advanced version of the fourth generation Fighters currently in America's Arsenal strategist envisioned a hybridized approach to air superiority where a Workhorse aircraft could fill all the roles that don't require bells and whistles like stealth technology or address threats that say the F35 is too slow to handle in an Interceptor roll or doesn't carry enough payload to manage far from a reduction capability a truly Advanced F-15 or similar fighter would ensure that America could select the right tools for a given job while at the same time offloading some of the nation's air superiority responsibilities onto a more affordable but still Advanced alternative if such a program could run in a way that didn't get in the F-35 program's way and didn't open the Pentagon or the Air Force to any more risk than they already faced then it could be potentially a major Boon to the future of the USAF in 2018 after strategic analysis basically green at the idea of a combined fourth and fifth generation fighter Fleet the US Air Force began working closely with Boeing to discuss the so-called Advanced F-15 or f-15x it would be a two- seat model they eventually worked out given that Boeing was by that time producing exclusively two-seater aircraft on its current production lines the program was set to be based in St Louis Missouri where Boeing had a major plant that the US wanted to keep open in order to help spread around America's fighter aircraft construction capabilities the Air Force picked out the new hardware and software systems it wanted to update the plane with made improvements on the plane that Qatar and Saudi Arabia had been getting and before long Boeing's already working production lines were able to fly a prototype that Maiden flight took place in February of 2021 and two months later the aircraft got a name the eagle 2 the first of the line would be delivered to the Air Force before that eagle 2 name was even announced and joined by five other copies it would perform flight testing at egin Air Force Base in Florida for months the rigorous testing model saw some of the aircraft participating in war games others fitted out with new and unique equipment pieces and still more modified to fit better with the Air Force's internal requirements it got its approvals its validations its certifications and all the other practical stuff it needed along with a few tweaks sent back to Boeing for future aircraft by 2024 just 6 years after the program's conception and 3 years after its Maiden flight the F-15 ex was assigned to the 142nd wing of the Oregon Air National Guard designated for future call up into Federal service with the US Air Force its first flight upon delivery was flown by two crew call signs night and wiggles and a brought back down to earth amidst thunderous Applause on the tarmac the eagle 2 is a marked improvement on its progenitor either holding consistent or offering better performance in just about every conceivable metric measuring 63 ft 9 1/2 in from tip to tail or just under 20 M long it features a wingspan of 42 ft 9 1/2 in or 13 M even sitting empty it's a substantial piece of engineering at 34,600 or just hair under 16 metric tons fully loaded that weight will more than double to a maximum takeoff weight of £81,000 or 36 and 3/4 metric tons it's powered by two General Electric f-110 jet engines and seat two crew members a pilot and a weapon system officer on paper the eagle 2 boasts maximum speed of Mac 2.5 at high altitude equivalent to 1,650 mph or 2,655 km an hour the low altitude it still flies well past the speed of sound at about 920 mph it's 1500 km an hour but in practice it can go a good bit faster is especially unloaded and its never exceed speed is as high as Mac 2.9 if feates a combat range of 791 Mi or 1,272 km while with external fuel tanks it can fly across continents in one go capping out a 2,400 Mi or 3900 km it features a service ceiling of 60,000 ft or 18 km an altitude it can reach a barely more than a minute in training and test situations the eagle 2 was easily won drag Ray star competitions against strike Eagles and outturn out climbed and outmaneuvered models using similar airf frames and engines pilots who flown the eagle 2 have confirmed its persistent ability to outrun the F-16 and the F35 and then there's the question of ordinance where the F-15 ex is packing another level of heat in addition to 12 external hard points the eagle 2 is capable of mounting bomb racks that increase its carrier capacity to an unbelievable 22 air-to-air missiles 23 bombs or a combination depending on the racks used for the job that's nearly a three-fold increase over the missile counts of the F-15 C and D are the eagle to can carry all manner of air-to-air missiles including the a260 a missile currently under development by loed Martin and treated as the Air Force and the Navy's highest priority weapon procurement it should arrive sometime in 2024 it carries several kinds of air to surface and anti-radiation missiles including the AGM 183 Arrow a 6600 or 3 metric tonon Hypersonic missile currently on ice as the US decides whether or not it would like to fund the thing in future years it carries not just small damer bombs but the heavy bunker busting Mark 84 outfitted with guiding equipment called the jdam it integrates modern multimodal all-weather radar multiple options for an advanced targeting pod that features autonomous Target tracking and identification and a specially designed electronic warfare encounter measure Suite vant to keep it available in the heat of battle finally it rounds out its onboard Arsenal with an onboard Gatling cannon with 500 rounds of 20 mm ammunition all across the aircraft it includes a wide range of upgrades and modification over previous Eagle iterations its electronic warfare suite and its flyby wire control system are significantly improved over any and all other Eagle versions and it brings two extra Wing pylons to the table after previous fly by wire systems caused its stability issues that require those pylons to go unused Eagle 2's refined Wing structure extends its service life dramatically to 20,000 flight hours enough to nearly triple the projected service lives of most Global air superiority Fighters and projecting its usefulness outward to the next 80 years potentially not retiring until the year 2100 or later it's onboard processor Mission computer and its Advanced large display inside the cockpit bring a level of technological integration to the pilot that most aircraft of the eagle 2's generation simply cannot match it even carries specialized onboard sensors to help pick up on the presence of stealth aircraft while the eagle 2 may be able to integrate the Air Force's anticipated collaborative combat aircraft and young man's wingman drone the eagle 2 can perform both air superiority and ground attack roles and its digital systems are designed in a way to ease the process of stacking on future upgrades and [Music] Technologies at the time of writing the US Air Force hasn't yet brought Eagle 2 into full operational status as of now the Air Force has taken possession of just two of the aircraft with a total of 102 more on order from Boeing over the next few years while that total Fleet of 104 is relatively small not even enough to phase out the 149 f-15c models the Air Force still flies it's not likely that the number of ordered Eagle tws will stay static the program isn't cheap by any means but it's far less costly in real dollars than the F-35 and because of how quickly Boeing can push the aircraft out on a short timetable they're likely to be procured in small follow-up batches from year to year using the sums that are left behind after the Air Force's big budget items have been accounted for that procurement as of now hasn't been fully smooth sailing after revisions were requested the aircraft front fuselage has undergone some modifications that have slowed down procurement but those bugs are expected to be mostly worked out by now and once they are aircraft should start arriving in larger and larger batches in its operational role the first 150 or so Eagle twos are likely to fill in four and eventually phase out the F-15 c/d those aircrafts mostly stationed around America's own National borders under the National Guard along with squadrons in England and Japan and a small smattering elsewhere those airplanes were initially supposed to be replaced by the F-16 which to be fair is an elite multi-roll platform but when compared to the F-15 the F-16 simply isn't as Elite in that air superiority role the eagle 2 offers not reduced but improved air superiority capabilities relative to the aircraft it will replace and eliminates the need to service its aging predecessor not only that but it'll substantially improve the Air Force's ability to operate its bomb defense air fleet in a lowcost way while making virtually no trade-offs to do so and accepting close to zero added complications or headaches in the process per flight hour it's expected to cost just 25 to $30,000 as substantial improvements on the aircraft it will replace and a major cost-saving measure compared to America's fifth gen aircraft and in terms of the ground support equipment it uses the pilot training required and the logistical check to support the aircraft on base and in the fields they're close to a direct copy and paste from prior versions of the eagle America's production capacity for this particular plane is known to be elastic and can be ratcheted up to an output of several dozen per year meaning that the currently projected drive to procure 104 of the planes could be finished by or before the decade's end that's not to say though that everyone is a fan of the F-5 ex and in fact the plane has drawn heavy criticism from a range of experts across the American defense world many condemn its lack of stealth capability asserting that anything that cannot fly stealthily is a waste and that all the eagle to use Advanced capabilities will come to nothing if it can't hide its presence it's vulnerable to Russia's S400 missile defense system and likely to Chinese made systems as well and when it comes to the idea of a direct confrontation with either or both Nations some experts believe that it won't be able to do the job National Security reporter Mark episcopos Writing for the national interest in 2021 even titled one article on the aircraft quoting here Boeing F-15 ex the US Air Force's biggest mistake ever yet against expert skepticism has come International confidence with both Saudi Arabia and Israel planning to either upgrade the existing f-15s to the eagle 2 standard or to order their own versions Egypt Poland Indonesia and Thailand are apparently in HT as well and while we certainly admit that those experts are correct to implicate the eagle 2's lack of stealth technology context matters and the F-15 ex won't be operating alone integrated capabilities to the US Air Fleet as a whole and its efficacy begins to make a whole lot more sense in combat the F-15 ex is indeed expected to be a stark contrast to its stealthy Partners it will Thunder into aerial dog fights into cross- contested or enemy territory with no attempt to hide its presence instead the eagle 2 is known to be highly maneuverable it's clearly very well armed and perhaps most importantly of all it's explosively fast capable of enacting a higher octane higher thrust approach to combat than any other American vter aircraft it's on board computers are so sophisticated that they essentially take direction from the pilots and make previously impossible Maneuvers happen with a level of precision that not even the best human operators could match without digital assistance with those new controls the eagle 2 is either on the edge of or has passed into fully super maneuverable status level of acrobatic performance that no compar comparable aircraft can even hope to match Boeing's promotional materials highlight the plane's capacity to attack from very long ranges using current technology and the ability of its electronic warfare tools to make it stealthy by default basically blinding the enemy rather than turning itself so to speak invisible for the medium term the eagle 2 is expected to continue serving in its role of airbase and Homeland defense while aircrafts that see front line operation may also take on a primarily defensive role in forcing no fly zones maintaining secured air space in contested areas and guarding over forward deployed American Assets in the field they may be used to deploy standoff weapons particularly ones that the US is rather eager to try out in real life engagements once they're ready to use and the right situation presents itself at present it's not expected to be the tip of the spear when conducting offensives that require overcoming modern air defenses although the right weapons loadouts for a group of Eagle twos operating in concert might be able to do the job instead it'll be more likely to serve as a second wave following close behind Raptor or lightning aircraft that can conduct Precision operations to hamstring and adversar defenses before thundering in and dropping its far greater payload on targets that were in theory defended and as we mentioned previously it's unlikely that this ongoing run of 104 aircraft will be the only F-15 ex batch ever produced if the aircraft's actual capabilities match up with its purported capabilities then it'll bring tactical and strategic value all up and down the US Air Force overcoming a sort of tunnel vision that's taken over the stealth minded fifth gen Focus Pentagon in favor of sleek sophisticated utilitarianism as time goes on and Technology develops it's unclear just what the eagle 2 will be able to accomplish when paired up with more advanced aircraft some commentators have suggested that it may function as a weapons truck to support the F-35 or the F-22 joining them in contested airspace and pairing with their sophisticated Battlefield mapping systems with an F-35 or an F-22 flying ad and marking targets it's the Eagle to that may follow behind with the heavy Firepower making attack runs look easy against aerial adversaries or ground targets that thought they were well defended as we mentioned previously they may be able to work alongside loyal wingman drones some of which may increase the eagle to's weapons carrying capacity even further While others may be able to act as stealth Scouts and fulfill the covert responsibilities that the eagle 2 can't do directly as American Ultra longrange Weaponry continues to develop the eagle 2 will be the most capable and Nimble plane to be able to carry particularly heavy Munitions and at least in theory they should be more than able to carry the large and heavy component parts that are expected to carry the first air superiority directed energy weapons essentially lasers the story of the F-15 ex is not yet written and until it has the opportunity to get a taste of real world combat in all its iterations it'll be impossible to truly pinpoint whether this plane is a major success a major dud or something in between but at least on paper the eagle 2 is poised to offer a major Improvement on every aircraft in the US Air Force in one way or another it could do more and do it better with better onboard systems than its fellow fourth generation Fighters and it can operate faster longer with better and heavier weaponry and in closer quarters engagements than the fifth generation aircraft that technically outmatch it and most important of all it won't fly alone instead it'll join the US Air Force as the tool that links all its disparate Parts together one part Workhorse one part Lynch pin and proven to be reliable for the battles of today while featuring a whole lot to offer for the battles to come [Music]

Channel: Megaprojects

Views: 339,004

Keywords: f-15ex eagle ll first test fire, f-15ex flies the new eagle, f-15ex eagle ll, f-15 eagle weapon, f15 eagle ll, f-15 strike eagle ll, f15ex eagle ll, new f-15 eagle, f-15 eagle, f-15x eagle, f-15ex eagle, f15ex eagle 2, f-15 high speed, f 15x super eagle, f-15 strike eagle, f-15ex super eagle, f-15e strike eagle, f15 eagle, f15 ex eagle, f-15 flying, strike eagle, new f15ex, fighter jet, f15 in action

Id: jIREaQXIB9s

Length: 21min 51sec (1311 seconds)

Published: Wed Jul 10 2024