TITLE:

BOEING (MCDONNELL DOUGLAS) F-15E 'Eagle'

TYPE:

Two-seat dual role attack/air superiority fighter.

PROGRAMME:

Demonstration of industry-funded Strike Eagle prototype (71-0291) modified from F-15B, including accurate blind weapons delivery, completed at Edwards AFB and Eglin AFB during 1982; product improvements tested in Strike Eagle, an F-15C and an F-15D between November 1982 and April 1983, including first take-off at 34019 kg (75000 lb), 3175 kg (7000 lb) more than F-15C with conformal tanks; new weight included conformal tanks, three other external tanks and eight 500 lb Mk 82 bombs; 16 different stores configurations tested, including 2000 lb Mk 84 bombs, and BDU-38 and CBU-58 weapons delivered visually and by radar; full programme go-ahead announced 24 February 1984; first flight of first production F-15E (86-0183) 11 December 1986; first delivery to Luke AFB, Arizona, 12 April 1988; first delivery 29 December 1988 to 4th Wing at Seymour Johnson AFB, North Carolina.

DESIGN FEATURES:

NACA 64A aerofoil section with conical camber on leading-edge; sweepback 38o 42' at quarter-chord; thickness/chord ratio 6.6 per cent at root, 3 per cent at tip; anhedral 1o; incidence 0o. Twin fins positioned to receive vortex flow off wing and maintain directional stability at high angles of attack. Straight two-dimensional external compression engine air inlet each side of fuselage. Air inlet controllers by Hamilton Standard. Air inlet actuators by National Water Lift. system capable of automatic coupled terrain following.

LANDING GEAR:

Hydraulically retractable tricycle type, with single wheel on each unit. All units retract forward.

POWER PLANT:

Initially, two Pratt & Whitney F100-PW-220 turbofans, each rated for take-off at 104.3 kN (23450 lb st), installed, with afterburning. Later aircraft have option of Pratt & Whitney F100-PW-229s or General Electric F110-GE-129s. USAF aircraft 135 onwards (90-0233), built from August 1991, have 129.4 kN (29100 lb st) Pratt & Whitney F100-PW-229s, which also ordered for Saudi F-15S. Internal fuel in foam-filled structural wing tanks and six Goodyear fuselage tanks, total capacity 7643 litres (2019 US gallons; 1681 Imp gallons).

ACCOMMODATION:

Two crew, pilot and weapon systems officer, in tandem on McDonnell Douglas ACES II zero/zero ejection seats. Single-piece, upward-hinged, bird-resistant canopy.

AVIONICS:

As F-15C/D, except triple redundant Lear Astronics digital flight control system with automatic terrain following standard. Hughes Aircraft AN/APG-70 I-band pulse Doppler radar provides full F-15C air-to-air capability plus high resolution synthetic aperture radar for air-to-ground; terrain-following capability provided by Martin Marietta AN/AAQ-13 LANTIRN navigation pod, and FLIR imagery displayed on Kaiser ID-2394/A wide field of view HUD; moving map display by Bendix/King RP-341/A remote map reader; IBM CP-1075C very high speed integrated circuit (VHSIC) central computer introduced in 1992, replacing CP-1075.

ARMAMENT:

20 mm M61A1 six-barrel gun in starboard wing-root, with 512 rds. General Electric lead computing gyro. Provision on underwing (one per wing) and centreline pylons for air-to-air and air-to-ground weapons and external fuel tanks. Wing pylons use standard rail and launchers for AIM-9 Sidewinder and AIM-120 AMRAAM air-to-air missiles; AIM-7 Sparrow and AIM-120 AMRAAM can be carried on ejection launchers on the fuselage or on tangential stores carriers on CFTs. Edo BRU-46/A and BRU-47/A adaptors throughout, plus two LAU-106A/As each side of lower fuselage. F-15E can carry a wide variety and quantity of guided and unguided air-to-ground weapons.

DIMENSIONS: EXTERNAL:

Wing span: 13.05 m (42 ft 9{3/4} in)

Wing aspect ratio: 3.01

Length overall: 19.43 m (63 ft 9 in)

Height overall: 5.63 m (18 ft 5{1/2} in)

AREAS:

Wings, gross: 56.5 m{2} (608.0 sq ft)

WEIGHTS: AND LOADINGS (F100-PW-220 engines):

Operating weight empty (no fuel, ammunition,

pylons or external stores): 14515 kg (32000 lb)

Max weapon load: 11113 kg (24500 lb)

Max T-O weight: 36741 kg (81000 lb)

PERFORMANCE:

Max level speed at height: Mach 2.5

Max combat radius: 685 nm (1270 km; 790 miles)

Max range: 2400 nm (4445 km; 2762 miles)

LENGTH (m): 19.43

HEIGHT (m): 5.63

WING SPAN (m): 13.05

MAX T-O WEIGHT (kg): 36741

MAX WING LOAD (kg/m{2}): 650.50

MAX LEVEL SPEED (knots): 1434

MAX RANGE (nm): 2400