KC135TopBoom From United States of America, joined Jan 2005, 11711 posts, RR: 52 Posted (2 years 10 months 2 weeks 5 days 15 hours ago) and read 9394 times:
Boeing announced their F-15SE Silent Eagle, dubbed the F-15E1 made its first flight yesterday. The flight lasted abour 80 minutes and included opening the weapons bay door on the left CFT. No missiles or weapons were lanched or released. The flight was made from Boeing's STL facility, and will continue with a deployment to a weapons test range in a few weeks.
sphealey From United States of America, joined May 2005, 361 posts, RR: 0 Reply 1, posted (2 years 10 months 2 weeks 5 days 10 hours ago) and read 9234 times:
> The flight lasted abour 80 minutes and included opening the weapons bay
> door on the left CFT. No missiles or weapons were lanched or released.
Whew - just barely avoided another "Escape from New York" situation!
sPh
(for those who don't get the reference, the cheesy 1980s action movie "Escape from New York" was filmed in the old downtown St. Louis industrial district - because the director and special effects guys were able to burn and blow up large-scale buildings at very low cost!)
A342 From Germany, joined Jul 2005, 4655 posts, RR: 4 Reply 2, posted (2 years 10 months 2 weeks 5 days 10 hours ago) and read 9228 times:
Just to clarify, it was just a demonstrator that tested the conformal weapons bay. No canted tail fins or other RCS-reducing features have been installed yet:
KC135TopBoom From United States of America, joined Jan 2005, 11711 posts, RR: 52 Reply 3, posted (2 years 10 months 2 weeks 5 days 9 hours ago) and read 9175 times:
Quoting A342 (Reply 2): Just to clarify, it was just a demonstrator that tested the conformal weapons bay. No canted tail fins or other RCS-reducing features have been installed yet:
I didn't write that, and you are right, I should have.....me bad. But I thought Boeing decided against the canted tails on the F-15SE a few months ago.
Oroka From Canada, joined Dec 2006, 789 posts, RR: 0 Reply 4, posted (2 years 10 months 2 weeks 5 days ago) and read 8963 times:
Boeing decided to get the conformal weapon bay and other stealth features completed and tested first, then work on the canted vert stabs if there is interest in it.
I think it would be an important feature because if you are going up against the F-35 for sales, you dont want the same old F-15 with something strapped to it. The canted stabs will make the SE stand out from the legacy F-15s on a flight line.
GST From United Kingdom, joined Jun 2008, 927 posts, RR: 0 Reply 5, posted (2 years 10 months 2 weeks 4 days 19 hours ago) and read 8822 times:
Quoting Oroka (Reply 4): The canted stabs will make the SE stand out from the legacy F-15s on a flight line.
And not to mention that a large portion of the F-15 classic's (enormous) non-frontal radar cross section was due to the vertical fins, if they are canted even a moderate amount this is drastically reduced. I suspect that it will be a required feature to make the aircraft competitive if "stealth" is still being used as a selling point.
DEVILFISH From Philippines, joined Jan 2006, 4429 posts, RR: 1 Reply 6, posted (2 years 10 months 2 weeks 4 days 12 hours ago) and read 8657 times:
Quoting KC135TopBoom (Reply 3): But I thought Boeing decided against the canted tails on the F-15SE a few months ago.
Quoting Oroka (Reply 4): Boeing decided to get the conformal weapon bay and other stealth features completed and tested first, then work on the canted vert stabs if there is interest in it.
Boeing clarified that canted fins were not "intended" to be on their flight test aircraft.....
Quote: "CORRECTION: Boeing says the F-15SE flight test aircraft was never intended to have canted tails, nor has the production configuration been settled."
.....but could be a customer option per the link in Reply 2.....
Quote: "Depending on the customer's desires, the F-15SE also may include other upgrades, including a panorama cockpit display, a BAE Systems digital electronic warfare system (DEWS) and tail fins canted outward by 15º."
Quick implementation and demonstration of those, and some masking of the intakes will be vital in deflecting the F-35's appeal - and in convincing the RoKAF to select it for KF-X3.
SP90 From United States of America, joined May 2006, 386 posts, RR: 0 Reply 8, posted (2 years 10 months 3 days 5 hours ago) and read 7143 times:
Interesting...so they plan to use part of the internal volume of the CFT for weapon storage. So how much will be left for fuel? It looks like only a single AMRAAM will fit in there.
wvsuperhornet From United States of America, joined Aug 2007, 516 posts, RR: 0 Reply 10, posted (2 years 9 months 4 weeks 11 hours ago) and read 6452 times:
Nice I wish the US would buy some and get off this the F-35 will solve everything kick
Quote: "3. Procuring new upgraded variants of legacy aircraft such as the F-16 and F-15
4. A combination of options 2 and 3
The fact that the USAF has even considered resuming F-16 and F-15 orders could be very significant. Two decades of USAF leaders have consistently upheld the all-stealth rule for combat aircraft.
The USAF reports, however, do not endorse the non-stealth procurement option, according to the GAO. Modernizing and extending the service life of 300 F-16s could provide the same capability as buying new jets, but at 10-15% of the cost, GAO says."
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From Germany, joined Jul 2005, 4655 posts, 
But I thought Boeing decided against the canted tails on the F-15SE a few months ago.
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From United Kingdom, joined Jun 2008, 927 posts, 
From Philippines, joined Jan 2006, 4429 posts, 
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