The US Air Force buys an analog of the Su-57. It will become the most armed fighter in the world
In February, the fourth-generation American fighter jet, the Boeing F-15EX Advanced Eagle, took off for the first time. The plane was in the sky over Lambert International Airport in St. Louis (Missouri) for an hour and a half. The Boeing company claims that the new F-15EX Advanced Eagle is the most advanced version of the F-15 Eagle fighter. The first two such aircraft will soon be delivered to the US Air Force (Air Force). Why do the US military need the F-15EX Advanced Eagle when there is a fifth-generation F-35 Lightning II fighter, says <url>.
During the first flight of the F-15EX Advanced Eagle, test pilots Matt Giese and Mike Quintini lifted the aircraft to an altitude of more than 12 kilometers. The maximum speed that the fighter developed was Mach 2. During the test flight, which took place in accordance with the standard Acceptance Test Procedure (ATP) adopted by Boeing [...], the operation of the main aircraft systems, in particular a pair of F110-GE-129 engines, avionics and software, was checked. The tests carried out in the company were recognized as successful.
Structurally, the two-seat F-15EX Advanced Eagle is a further development of the F-15QA (Qatar Advanced) fighter created for the Qatari Air Force, which first flew in April 2020. The most modern version of the fighter received, in particular, an electric control system, a digital cockpit, AN AN/APG-82(V)1 radar with an active phased array antenna (AFAR), an infrared search and tracking system, a Sniper targeting nacelle and a modern electronic warfare (EW) and surveillance system AN/ALQ-250 Eagle Passive Active Warning Survivability System (EPAWSS).
The payload capacity of the F-15EX Advanced Eagle reached 13.4 tons. Four suspended pylons can be placed under the wings of the aircraft. Thus, the F-15EX Advanced Eagle can become the most armed fighter in the world, carrying up to 22 guided air-to-air missiles, most notably the AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM). It is therefore not surprising that the aircraft received a second seat, designed primarily for the weapons systems officer, useful in particularly complex missions.
In the future, the aircraft is planned to be equipped with hypersonic or anti-satellite weapons. In particular, in February 2020, at the Air Warfare Symposium 2020 exhibition in Orlando (Florida), the editor of the American magazine Aviation Week & Space Technology, Steve Trimble, noticed a mock-up of an aircraft with a suspended cargo corresponding to a rocket weighing 3.3 tons, 6.8 meters long and 0.8 meters in diameter. Probably, this product will be a response to the hypersonic missile system X-47M2 "Dagger", which receives the Russian fighter-interceptor MiG-31K.
The layout of the F-15EX Advanced Eagle with probable hypersonic weapons
Image Source: Photo: @TheDEWLine
Initially, the F-15EX Advanced Eagle is supposed to replace the aging F-15C/D Eagle, which in the US Air Force were not replaced by the fifth-generation F-22 Raptor and F-35 Lightning II fighters, which turned out to be too expensive. The latter, in addition, in order to maintain low visibility, is not designed to carry a heavy missile and bomb load. The Americans are confident that the F-35 Lightning II and F — 15EX Advanced Eagle will work together-the fifth-generation fighter will detect the enemy and transmit data about the target to a more armed fourth-generation aircraft.
An additional, but very important opportunity for the US Air Force, which in the future should receive a modern F-15 Eagle, is the control of a guided unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), like the Australian Boeing Loyal Wingman. Such drones are able not only to carry out reconnaissance, but also to carry missiles, significantly increasing the combat range of the leading aircraft. Perhaps the weapons systems officer will also be responsible for such drones in the F-15EX Advanced Eagle.
Another major feature of the F-15EX Advanced Eagle is the use of the Open Mission System (OMS) architecture, which allows, primarily due to standard interfaces and data formats, to quickly integrate modern capabilities into the aircraft's systems.
It is expected that the first two aircraft, the F-15EX-1 and F-15EX-2, will be delivered to Eglin Air Force Base (Florida) in the second quarter of this year, on the 49th anniversary of the first flight of the first F-15A, which took place on July 27, 1972. Even earlier, in May, the US Air Force plans to deliver at least one F-15EX Advanced Eagle to Alaska, where the fighter must pass operational tests. Washington is confident that this aircraft will be useful in the most difficult scenarios of the Indo-Pacific Theater of operations, primarily in the event of a potential confrontation between the United States and its allies with China.
According to American analysts Ryan Bauer and Peter Wilson, the characteristics of the F-15EX Advanced Eagle resemble the Russian Su-57 fighter, which in Russia is traditionally related to the fifth generation. Experts believe that the two aircraft have all the basic capabilities of the fifth-generation fighters, with the exception of low visibility. What brings the Su-57 and F-15EX Advanced Eagle closer together is the fact that the first, as well as the second, has not yet formed a complete set of missile weapons.
Su-57 fighter jets
Image source: Photo: Andrey Kataev / RIA Novosti
By 2030, the US Air Force intends to receive about 200 units of the F-15EX Advanced Eagle. The first production aircraft for the military should arrive from 2023. The cost of the corresponding F-15 Eagle fleet renewal program is estimated at $ 23 billion. For comparison: by 2028, the Russian Aerospace Forces (VKS) should receive only 76 Su-57 fighters.
Oleg Ivanov
