Doing the Heavy Lifting

Boeing’s F-15EX Eagle II—the latest variant of the F-15E Strike Eagle and inheritor of superb combat capabilities manifest originally in its 1972-vintage F-15 forebear—is living up to its incomparable combat legacy over the azure waters of Florida’s Gulf Coast.

Representatives of the United States Air Force reported on 04 January 2023 that a pair of F-15EXs had successfully fired air-to-air missiles from newly installed and operational weapon stations during a 29 November 2022 test flight. On separate passes over the water range of Eglin Air Force Base’s Test and Training Complex, USAF Major Jeremy Schnurbusch, a pilot attached to the 40th Flight Test Squadron, and USAF Major Brett Hughes of the Operational Flight Program Combined Test Force, respectively fired the AIM-9X and AIM-120 missiles at an ill-fated target drone.

Major Hughes remarked: “Having been a part of the Eglin F-15EX team from day one, it’s exciting to see the progress made and new milestones achieved as we work to field the most combat-capable F-15EX.”

USAF brass echoed Major Hughes’s sentiments, setting forth that the Eglin test-flights occasioned the first demonstrations that the weapons “could be fired effectively and safely” from stations 1 and 9—new distal hardpoints located near the F-15EX’s wing-tips.

In a statement, the Air Force described the test-flights as a “major step” toward demonstrating the radically augmented fourth-generation fighter’s planned capacity of 12 air-to-air missiles—the highest among U.S. fighter aircraft. The service further stated that upon completion of the model’s testing, operational units receiving the F-15EX will be able to immediately field the aircraft with its full design complement of one-dozen missiles.

Of the F-15EX and the prowess it has thus far demonstrated in testing, USAF 96th Test Wing Commander Lieutenant Colonel Christopher Wee asserted: “The F-15EX is an incredible addition to the USAF inventory. This event, executed by a top-notch team of test pilots, engineers and experts, proves yet again that the F-15EX will be ready if and when our adversaries challenge our nation’s interests.”

FMI: www.af.mil