Posted on 08/18/2016 11:38:00 PM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
The US Air Force is vigorously upgrading the 1980s-era F-15 fighter by giving new weapons and sensors in the hope of maintaining air-to-air superiority over the Chinese J-10 equivalent.
The multi-pronged effort includes the current addition of electronic warfare technology, super-fast high-speed computers, infrared search and track enemy targeting systems, increased networking ability and upgraded weapons-firing capability, Air Force and Boeing officials said.
“The Air Force plans to keep the F-15 fleet in service until the mid-2040’s. Many of the F-15 systems date back to the 1970’s and must be upgraded if the aircraft is to remain operationally effective. Various upgrades will be complete as early as 2021 for the F-15C AESA (Active Electronically Scanned Array) radar and as late as 2032 for the various EW (electronic warfare) upgrades,” Air Force spokesman Maj. Rob Leese told Scout Warrior.
The Air Force currently operates roughly 400 F-15C, D and E variantsA key impetus for the upgrade was well articulate in a Congressional report on the US and China in 2014. (US-China Economic and Security Review Commission --www.uscc.gov). Among other things, the report cited rapid Chinese technological progress and explained that the US margin of superiority has massively decreased since the 1980s.
As an example, the report said that in the 1980s, the US F-15 was vastly superior to the Chinese equivalent – the J-10. However, Chinese technical advances in recent years have considerably narrowed that gap to the point where the Chinese J-10 is now roughly comparable to the US F-15, the report explained.
Air Force and Boeing developers maintain that ongoing upgrades to the F-15 will ensure that this equivalence is not the case and that, instead, they will ensure the superiority of the F-15.
Among the upgrades is an ongoing effort to equip the F-15 with the fastest jet-computer processer in the world, called the Advanced Display Core Processor, or ADCPII. “It is capable of processing 87 billion instructions per second of computing throughput, translating into faster and more reliable mission processing capability for an aircrew,” Boeing spokesman Randy Jackson told Scout Warrior.
The F-15 is also receiving protective technology against enemy fire with a system called the Eagle Passive Active Warning Survivability System.
“This allows the aircraft to identify a threat and actively prosecute that threat through avoidance, deception or jamming techniques,” Mike Gibbons, Vice President of the Boeing F-15 program, told Scout Warrior in an interview.
High tech targeting and tracking technology is also being integrated onto the F-15, Gibbons added. This includes the addition of a passive long-range sensor called Infrared Search and Track, or IRST.
The technology is also being engineered into the Navy F-18 Super Hornet. The technology can detect the heat signature, often called infrared emissions, of enemy aircraft.
“The system can simultaneously track multiple targets and provide a highly effective air-to-air targeting capability, even when encountering advanced threats equipped with radar-jamming technology,” Navy officials said.
IRST also provides an alternate air-to-air targeting system in a high threat electronic attack environment, Navy, Air Force and industry developers said. The F-15 is also being engineered for additional speed and range, along with weapons-firing ability. The weapons-carrying ability is being increased from 8 up to 16 weapons; this includes an ability to fire an AIM-9x or AIM-120 missile. In addition, upgrades to the aircraft include adding an increased ability to integrate or accommodate new emerging weapons systems as they become available. This is being done through both hardware and software-oriented “open standards” IP protocol and architecture.
The aircraft is also getting a “fly-by-wire” automated flight control system.
“Fly by wire means when the pilot provides the input - straight to a computer than then determines how to have the aircraft perform the way it wants - provides electrical signals for the more quickly and more safely move from point to point as opposed to using a mechanical controls stick,” Gibbons explained.
Along with these weapons upgrades and other modifications, the F-15 is also getting upgrades to the pilot’s digital helmet and some radar signature reducing, or stealthy characteristics.
However, at the same time, the F-15 is not a stealthy aircraft and is expected to be used in combat environments in what is called “less contested” environments where the Air Force already has a margin of air superiority over advanced enemy air defenses.
For this reason, the F-15 will also be increasing networked so as to better support existing 5th-generation platforms such as the F-22 and F-35, Air Force officials said.
The intent of these F-15 upgrades is to effectively perform the missions assigned to the F-15 fleet, which are to support the F-22 in providing air superiority and the F-35 in providing precision attack capabilities, Leese said.
“While these upgrades will not make these aircraft equivalent to 5th generation fighters, they will allow the F-15 to support 5th generation fighters in performing their missions, and will also allow F-15s to assume missions in more permissive environments where capabilities of 5th generation fighters are not required,” Leese added.
Gibbons added that the upgrades to the F-15 will ensure that the fighter aircraft remains superior to its Chinese equivalent.
“The F-15 as a vital platform that still has a capability that cannot be matched in terms of ability to fly high, fly fast, go very far carry a lot. It is an air dominance machine,” Gibbons explained.
Great news..!
Nothing wrong in retrofitting older, proven planes with new tech...
Definitely saves a lot of money in the long run...
and I love the the F-15...
It was one of the first model kits I pieced together as a kid...
that and a Colonial Viper from BSG...
Of course, the AF generals want a new zoomie, damn the cost or superiority. Not a thing wrong with the F-15 airframe design or engines, it was ahead of it's time back when, just needs a bit of updating.
We could save even more money by retro-fitting some Sopwith Camels.
In any case, they wouldn’t be any worse than the F-35.
We’d have to get Snoopy’s permission first...
How about the P-51 Mustang..?
The F-15 is still a very good aircraft.
In some ways it’s better than the hyped joint strike fighter. Such as dog fighting.
Still think the best overall fighter we have is the F-22.
Still one of the most beautiful fighters ever made. Love those lines.
Years of cutbacks, on top of sequestration which cut the budget even further to the bone, is going to hunt this nation should we go to war. Wars are, “come as you are.” It takes years, even decades to field weapons systems. We won’t be able to catch up as quickly as we did during WW2 or other wars. And while Obama and our wonderful Republican Congress have been cutting our military to the bone these past few years, the Chinese and Russians have increased their war mobilization exponentially. God help us all.
Air Force Begins Massive High-Tech F-15 Upgrade to Stay in Front of Chinese J-10 of which the first stage will be completed in 5 years (2021, while the second will complete in 16 years (2032) ... Meanwhile, China’s J-10 maintains air superiority while they await the deployment of their next generation fighter long before 2032.
Retitled: USAF wastes money in a futile attempt to appear as if it is doing something to maintain air superiority.
Retro-fitting some Sopwith Camels would really fake out those pesky island building Chinese, throw in a Spad or two and they’d be on the run
Is that a Curtis design? It looks like a pre-war racing prototype for what would become the Corsair.
Since we’ve outsourced most of our electronic manufacturing to China guess who’s going to get it first. Plus we’ll get tainted goods on delivery.
Outsourcing our manufacturing was such an enriching idea for our upper management and bootlicking politicians.
That’s the Hughes H-1.
I think we can be secure in the fact some contractors, manufacturers took a shortcut, used inferior materials in building the Chinese planes.
Isn’t it great that we have to spend hundreds of billions arming ourselves against our single largest trade partner?
Gosh, just think: without all that cash they’d be just another third rate paper tiger.
But we helped them climb into the drivers seat!
And now we gotta live in fear of them.
The Joy of Globalism.
I believe you are correct, a placebo. It is still an ancient airplane. Most of these airplanes are bent and probably not capable of flying the performance envelope. They say you can’t equate to a vehicle this old because they are “maintained” differently. Maybe not but the airframes are OLD. We need new airplanes not a remodel of the old one. More like ancient one.
Not much more than window dressing. Have you climbed in an F-15 anytime in the last few years or walked under one? They are beat to hell. The 15E models leak hydraulic fluid like a sieve. They are worn out. You can only replace seals for so long before the cylinder bores become worn. There is enough of the equivalent of bondo on the airframes to patch up a rust bucket. The skins look like an ocean on a windy day.
Our pilots deserve better but they also deserve better than what is supposed to pass for leadership.
The two most important upgrades that need to be done to the F-15C is to install an AESA radar and the Talon HATE IRST and F-22 data link pod.
This would allow the F-22 to share targeting information with F-15Cs and multiply the F-22’s effectiveness.
...super-fast high-speed computers...
Oh, good, 'cause the merely lightning-fast ones are so yesterday... Really, "super-fast" ??? How about an comparison to the computing power of the existing systems? Or any specs they could dredge up? "super-fast" is meaningless.
...infrared search and track enemy targeting systems...
Wait, who? Is it "track enemy" or the "enemy targeting system" 'cause I really don't want to upgrade the enemy's targeting system.
...margin of superiority has massively decreased...
Ah, the old massive decrease. Kind of a contradiction there...
Sounds like this was written by a HS kid with access to Google and Wikipedia with a minimum word-count on the essay.
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