A Saudi Arabian F-15S sits on the main ramp at Nellis AFB during Red Flag
The
F-15SA is the most advanced production F-15 Eagle ever built.
The F-15SA
is an incredibly capable machine, featuring some key changes from its
progenitor, the F-15E Strike Eagle. These include a full fly-by-wire
flight control system, APG-63V3 Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar, digital electronic warfare and radar warning suite, missile launch detection system, updated flat-panel display cockpits with helmet mounted displays in both cockpits and an infrared search and track system, known as “Tiger Eyes,”
built into the left intake targeting pod pylon.
The F-15SA also
features F-110- GE-129 engines, capable of putting out almost 30,000
pounds of thrust each.
When it
comes to weapons, the F-15SA can carry almost anything in the inventory.
In the incredible image above showing an “extreme multi-role loadout”
it packs: 2x AIM-120AMRAAMs, 2x AIM-9X Sidewinders, 2x AGM-84 SLAM-ERs,
2x AGM-88 HARMs, 6x GBU-54/B Laser JDAMs, and 8x GBU-39/B Small Diameter Bombs.
Also, the
F-15SA still packs the F-15E’s 20mm Vulcan cannon with 540 rounds
available. Basically, with this jet you get a tactical fighter force “in
a box.” The loadout shown above includes weapons for long-range
stand-off deep-strike, suppression of enemy air defenses (SEAD),
counter-air, direct precision attack and standoff precision attack all
on the jet at the same time. Even after all that, the F-15SA’s
center-line station remains unused, which can accommodate up to a
2,000lb JDAM, an external fuel tank or even a synthetic aperture radar surveillance pod.
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The image
above shows the F-15SA once again, albeit this time it is in an
air-to-air configuration, including no less than eight AIM-120 AMRAAMs
and eight AIM-9X Sidewinders. This amounts to double the missile carrying capability of the F-15C or F-15E.
Also note the Infrared Search and Track system mounted above the jet’s
radome. This, combined with its state of the art radar’s low probability
of intercept modes, advanced radar warning receiver and Link 16
data-link, allows the F-15SA to hunt for enemy aircraft in
electromagnetic silence while still maintain high-situational awareness.
Boeing’s
Silent Eagle features internal weapons bays in its conformal fuel tanks
and low-observable improvements such as canted tails, radar absorbent
coatings and radar blockers on its engine fan faces. The aircraft can be
converted to a large load carrying non-stealthy configuration much like
the F-15SA in a matter of hours.
Many of the
improvements made in the penultimate F-15SA were also rolled into the
even more advanced and stealthier F-15 Silent Eagle, an aircraft that
has not found a customer in the fighter marketplace yet, especially
since South Korea chose to procure the F-35 on its last fighter buy and
other F-15 operators, like Japan, Israel, also did the same. Even if the
Eagle line ends with the F-15SA, it is amazing how far the aircraft has
come since its original use as an attack aircraft some 30 years ago.
Photos via Boeing, F-15S Red Flag Shot
Contact the author Tyler@jalopnik.com. Via Author/Foxtrot Alpha
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