F-15 Has Newly-Designed Conformal Weapons Bay
Boeing successfully launched a missile from the F-15 Silent
Eagle's newly designed Conformal Weapons Bay (CWB) on July 14.
Demonstration aircraft F-15E1 departed from Point Mugu Naval Air
Weapon Station, CA, at 1759 PDT, launched an inert AIM-120 Advanced
Medium Range Air to Air Missile (AMRAAM) from its left-side CWB,
and returned to base at 1852.
The test demonstrated the CWB's flightworthiness and ability to
deploy an AMRAAM in flight with no adverse effect on the
performance of the aircraft or the CWB itself.
"I've been flying F-15s for more than 20 years, but this flight
was different from all others," said Boeing F-15 Chief Test Pilot
Dan Draeger. "This first launch of an AMRAAM from the F-15's
internal weapons bay opens a new era for the F-15 and for strike
fighter capability in the dominance of the F-15 Eagle.
"The F-15, CWB and missile performed exactly as we predicted,"
Draeger continued. "The Silent Eagle continues the F-15's role as
the most versatile strike fighter aircraft ever built."
F-15E1 made its first flight with a CWB from Lambert St. Louis
International Airport on July 8. The CWB, which carried an AIM-120
Instrumented Test Vehicle (ITV), was successfully opened and closed
during that 80-minute flight, validating Boeing's design
approach.
"The F-15SE's internal carriage CWBs will significantly increase
tactical options for international customers while retaining all
the cost-certain, battle-proven capability of the Strike Eagle,"
said Roger Besancenez, F-15 Program vice president for Boeing.
Using a modular design approach, the F-15SE offers unique
aerodynamic, avionic and Radar Cross Section (RCS)-reduction
features, which Boeing says gives the aircraft maximum flexibility
to dominate the ever-changing advanced threat environment. RCS
reductions include treatments to the aircraft based on U.S.
government policy. The F-15SE CWBs can carry a variety of
air-to-air missiles, such as the AIM-9 and AIM-120, and
air-to-ground weapons such as the Joint Direct Attack Munition and
Small Diameter Bomb. The Silent Eagle's CWBs can be easily removed,
and the aircraft can be rapidly reconfigured into the combat-proven
external carriage/conformal fuel tank loadout based on mission
requirements.