Thanks to its extremely powerful engines, the F-15 possesses an excellent thrust-to-weight ratio which allows it to quickly climb to altitude but also to recover from energy-consuming dogfights much quicker.įurthermore, the F-15 features a more traditional fixed wing with low wing loading, unlike the F-14. The F-15 is powered by a pair of Pratt & Whitney F100 turbofan engines, generating an impressive thrust output confirmed by the F-15’s top speed which sits at Mach 2.3 at an altitude of 36,000 ft (10,900 meters). Let’s first talk about the engine and performance. Soon arriving to the American, Israeli and Japanese aircraft trees in the “Air Superiority” major update, the F-15 will become the new top dog of their respective trees, meaning you’ll be offered with an unmatched combination of agility and speed coupled with lethal firepower. In total, over 380 F-15A Eagles were produced of which the last ones were retired from service in 2009. In the following decades, the F-15 Eagle was continuously being further developed and upgraded, leading to more advanced variants entering service. The F-15A Eagle undertook its first combat sortie not under the American, but under the Israeli flag, taking part in military operations in Lebanon in the late 1970s and successfully downing a large number of Syrian aircraft. The F-15A Eagle proved popular with foreign operators as well, being adopted by the Israeli air force while Japan even obtained licenses for Mitsubishi to produce a modified variant for the JASDF in 1978. Following the construction and subsequent testing of the first prototypes, the single-seat F-15A officially entered service with the USAF in 1976 while the twin-seat F-15B trainer was already commissioned into service in 1974. Out of four companies which submitted detailed design proposals, the Air Force chose McDonnell Douglas’ submission as the winning design in 1969 and symbolically named the aircraft “Eagle”. As part of these specifications, particular emphasis was placed on maneuverability in addition to a high top speed. Development of what would become the F-15 began in 1965 after the USAF issued a set of requirements for a new air superiority fighter based on the lessons learned from the Vietnam War.
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