F-15 ? swing fighter

[MAKO69 186]

I know we have the MUD HEN, but was there ever a planned version of the F-15 to be an F/A-15 single seater like the F-18. I always thought about. Here is a what if when our F-15's get replaced they could become F/A-15.

[+Viggen 591]

F-15F was a proposed single seat Mud Hen.

[sparkomatic 7]

"not a pound for air to ground"

 

- that answers it

 

- things change, but that is the mantra the USAF had back in the 1970s

 

cheers

[MAKO69 186]

Was 1 ever made? I cant find a photo only stats.

[+ST0RM 145]

Back when I worked Eagles at Eglin and the F-22 was in development, there was some word about a Super Eagle concept. Basically Boeing told the AF that it could build a fleet of brand new F-15Cs, equipped with the latest and greatest radar, ECM, digital cockpit, etc... for the same price as the 180 odd Raptors. Basically a 1 for 1 swap over the entire Eagle fleet.

 

The AF said no and the rest we already know.

 

As close as 2003/4, the USAF/ACC was looking to re-install the A-to-G software in the Eagles and give them a minor bomb dropping ability. Mostly JDAMs. I never more on it.

 

-S

[JediMaster 451]

Well, there's the "Golden Eagle" program, where a number of low-hour F-15Cs are to receive AESA radars and other upgrades to serve alongside the F-22s. This is basically to compensate for the shortfall in numbers of F-22s bought.

 

However, there's no need for single-seat F-15s on ground attack. We have almost every plane in the inventory doing it, the dedicated interceptors are far fewer.

[+ST0RM 145]

However, there's no need for single-seat F-15s on ground attack. We have almost every plane in the inventory doing it, the dedicated interceptors are far fewer.

 

It wasn't that we didn't have the need for another bomb dropper. It was that Air Force wanted to give the Eagle another job in order to justify upgrades to a jet that can only do one thing, instead of getting nix'd.

[shotdown 8]

I think F-15 was designed as a multi role fighter , like f-18, but when the F-16 came, USAF gave the attack role to this cheaper plane.

Remember, when the work on F-15 started, there were no plans for a future light fighter, so I gess the original plan was for F-15 to take over all Phantom roles, not only the air superiority job.

[Jeremiah Weed 0]

I think F-15 was designed as a multi role fighter , like f-18, but when the F-16 came, USAF gave the attack role to this cheaper plane.

Remember, when the work on F-15 started, there were no plans for a future light fighter, so I gess the original plan was for F-15 to take over all Phantom roles, not only the air superiority job.

 

The F-15, from the beginning, was designed to be an "Air Superiority Fighter" in addition to what sparkomatic said, it was also introduced with great fanfare as the Air Forces' "First dedicated air superiority fighter since the F-86." The entire program was due to the MiG-25 and the incorrect thinking it was a highly maneuverable air superiority fighter.

 

The Lightweight Fighter program had nothing to do with "multi role" it was because a group of old fighter pilots now with procurement jobs felt the F-15 was not maneuverable enough for dog fights, and felt the Air Force needed a tight turning lightweight dogfighter. The initial order that lead to the YF-16 and YF-17 was for a small, highspeed, low drag, lightweight pure fighter with no bomb racks.

[commander 0]

F-15 design philosphy: Not A Pound For Air To Ground.

The F-16 was designed by old pilots who wanted a more nimble and smaller dogfighter. Just happened to work great for A2G as well.

[Anthony W. 0]

I think F-15 was designed as a multi role fighter , like f-18, but when the F-16 came, USAF gave the attack role to this cheaper plane.

Remember, when the work on F-15 started, there were no plans for a future light fighter, so I gess the original plan was for F-15 to take over all Phantom roles, not only the air superiority job.

 

Don't we all know that the F-15 was the first moder fighter built by the US as a pure air superiority fighter? Atleast thats what I've been told

[Anthony W. 0]

The F-15, from the beginning, was designed to be an "Air Superiority Fighter" in addition to what sparkomatic said, it was the First dedicated air superiority fighter since the F-86."

 

The F-86 wasn't air superiority. It just turned out to be a damn good one.

[Jeremiah Weed 0]

The F-86 wasn't air superiority. It just turned out to be a damn good one.

 

This is an exact quote of what the Air Force said. It was the first dedicated Air Superiority Fighter since the F-86. What it was used for is besides the point, I was just restating what the USAF said.

[JediMaster 451]

Actually, the F-16 was built for the greatest reason of all: money.

 

The F-15 COULD have done the job, but it was obviously too expensive to buy in sufficient numbers to replace the existing fleets (see F-22/F-35!). The LFX program was conceived as the "lo" part of a "hi lo" mix to fill out the numbers by having a cheap 2 missile + gun fighter very much along the lines of the MiG-21.

The F-16E is as different from the YF-16 as you can get without a totally different airframe. They just got lucky that you could stick a bigger engine in it and hang tons of bombs off the wings to make it multirole. The F-16A was in need of many upgrades to make it a true multirole plane anyway.