New version of F15 is out - The F15 Stealth or Silent Eagle

belacan79

It is offered by Boeing as new buys or affordable upgrades to current F15 users.
Singapore, South Korea and Japan are targetted by Boeing

It will have;

1) New stealth paint coatings( front aspect stealth close and almost as good as F35)
2) Effect of sharp edges are reduced for lower RCS
3) New stealthy canted tails
4) Most important of all; internal weapon bays for 4 Amraam missiles or 2 Amraam and 2 sidewinders or mix of Air to Air missiles and ground ordnance(bombs, etc)(including 8 SDB precision guided bombs). Normal external weapon hardpoints are still available for usage.
5) New EW and aircraft avionics

I think Singapore, South Korea and Japan would opt for the upgrade including buying new F15 Silent Eagles. But I think Singapore would stick to Israeli EW systems.

Boeing Unveils New Stealthy F-15

Mar 17, 2009

Amy Butler/St. Louis, Mo. [email protected]

More photos are available at the Ares defense technology blog, and in a series of photos in our Defense Showcase gallery, starting here.

Boeing unveiled the prototype of a new variant of the F-15 Strike Eagle aimed at the Asian and Middle East markets that will incorporate stealthy coatings and structure here on Mar. 17.

Company officials hope the new aircraft will garner up to 190 orders, extending the F-15 line beyond the current backlog of 38 aircraft for South Korea and Singapore. Since the company lost the Joint Strike Fighter contest to Lockheed Martin, the future of its St. Louis manufacturing facility has been uncertain. Continued F-15 sales, as well as additional orders for F/A-18E/Fs and EA-18Gs, are the only work in the foreseeable future for the plant.

Major design changes in the new "Silent Eagle" version include internal bays within the existing conformal fuel tanks that can carry a variety of air-to-air and air-to-ground weapons. Each tank will be configured to hold two air-to-air missiles, including the AIM-9 and AIM-120 or a combination of the two.For the air-to-ground mission, 1,000- and 500-pound Joint Direct Attack Munitions can be carried or four 250-pound Small Diameter Bombs per tank. Weapons loadout can also be split between the AIM-120 and JDAM for a multirole mission.The Silent Eagle configuration includes 15-degree outward-canted V-tails - a shift away from the characteristic vertical fins of the F-15 that reduces the radar cross-section.

The Mach 2.5 speed of the Strike Eagle is maintained, but the cost is about 180-200 nautical miles of range capability because of the reduce fuel in the conformal tanks, says Brad Jones, program manger for F-15 future programs.

The new design includes a digital electronic warfare system (DEWS), made by BAE Systems, that can operate simultaneously with the aircraft's Raytheon active electronically scanned array radar.

Stealth coatings, though not yet applied to Boeing's prototype, could be added at a later time. Boeing says the coatings could contibute to an equivalent amount of front-aspect stealth as that offered by Lockheed's F-35. This includes reducing radar returns from sharp edges on the aircraft, including antennae.

Stealthiness for the F-15 was explored about a decade ago for the U.S. Air Force as an alternative to the Lockheed-led F-22, but was never pursued. "The internal carriage is what is new. The stealth is not," Jones says, adding "We are not really after the F-22 market or the F-35 market" with this new design.

The level of stealthiness exportable on the F-15 is up to the U.S. government to decide, Jones says. Though USAF officials have been given courtesy briefings on the Silent Eagle, talks on stealth exportability have not yet occurred.

A radar blocker for engine inlets, already fitted in F/A-18E/Fs, could be added depending on how much radar cross-section reduction is required by the customer and allowed by the government.

Jones estimates the cost of a Silent Eagle will be about $100 million per aircraft, including spares, if built new. A retrofit kit including the conformal fuel tanks, DEWS and coatings could be added to existing Strike Eagles, he says.

The target market includes South Korea, Singapore, Japan, Israel and Saudi Arabia, Jones says. The first likely customer is South Korea, which is looking for two new fighters, including its F-X Phase III program, which calls for 60 aircraft in the F-15 class.

South Korea's Agency for Defense Development is also pushing for a KFX program, which calls for about 120 domestically developed stealth fighters. Jones says coproduction of stealth materials would be subject to U.S. government review and a tough case to sell.

Japan and Saudi Arabia are also looking for new F-15-class fighters. And if the Silent Eagle were sold to the Saudis, Israel likely would want a chance to buy the aircraft too to maintain balance of power in the Middle East.

Boeing's willingness to integrate indigenous systems, such as electronic warfare suites, onto the Silent Eagle is an option that could be of interest to these customers - especially Israel. Israeli industry was recently rebuffed by U.S. officials unwilling to add foreign EW systems under the F-35 development program.

The weapons-carrying fuel tanks, which are affixed to the aircraft with two bolts, and can be removed within about 2.5 hours. Reinstalling the original fuel tanks restores the F-15 to its nonstealthy configuration, which is capable of hauling more and larger weapons, including anti-ship missiles.

The Silent Eagle prototype is based on F-15E1, the program's flight test aircraft. To date, it has been outfitted with the conformal tanks and the canted tails, which are for demonstration only and not structurally integrated. The actual canted tails would be added later if a customer requested them. Stealth coatings and engine intake blockers have not been added.

Jones says Boeing hopes to begin flight testing the weapons-carrying conformal tanks on the aircraft in the first quarter of next year. Design work on the Silent Eagle concept began in September last year in response to feedback from F--15 customers, he says.

http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story_channel.jsp?channel=defense&id=news/Silent031709.xml&headline=Boeing%20Unveils%20New%20Stealthy%20F-15

Here is the power-point presentation

http://www.slideshare.net/TheDEWLine/silent-eagle-media-briefdoc?type=powerpoint

I strongly believe Singapore`s DSTA already knows about this. And that is why the F15SG was selected.

[ Last edited by  belacan79 at 18-3-2009 21:14 ]

Singalion

We could have some of the F-15SG still under production upgraded to the "Silent Eagle" version and probaly cheaper than after they roll off from production.

areguard

Stealth Eagle eh..nice bird.

With internal missiles bay and CFT would significantly reduced the RCS.

However the pointy air intake still contribute to large RCS. Maybe Boeing could work on reducing the signature by employing DSI air intake manifold like the F35's..

belacan79

They would probably put a radar blocker as mentioned in the article;

A radar blocker for engine inlets, already fitted in F/A-18E/Fs, could be added depending on how much radar cross-section reduction is required by the customer and allowed by the government.

Some people have mentioned that Boeing is trying to eat into the F35 market. My contention is that this is not the case. Boeing is well aware that countries like Singapore, Israel, Japan, etc will buy the F35s anyway. It is just a gap filler for the F22 when the F22 is approved for foriegn sales as all these countries are assumed to be operating both F35s and F22s in the future.

tin

escortburuk

Nice.. Sukhoi tak nak buat "Silent Flanker" plak ke?

alphawolf

One Q, is the baseline F-15 whether Cs or Es is still in production?

yaminz

How many weapon it can carried?

areguard

Clean configuration, no underslung hardpoints to reflect radar waves..

yaminz

Cik su pun bole buat, just tambah paylon kat bay 2... Jadi ler Silent Flanker...

belacan79

It looks like 4 internally carried missiles or bombs in stealth mode. Or 4 internally carried missiles or bombs plus the usual external hardpoints in non-stealth mode(12-14 hard-points in total).  If you look at the pictures and diagrams provided, you will realise that the Amraams shown are not clipped(fins). And that there is space to add 2 more AA missiles when Amraams with clipped fins are used. Refer to page 9;

http://www.slideshare.net/TheDEW ... doc?type=powerpoint

This is similar to the F22`s internal weapon carriage. F22 can carry 6 clipped amraams internally but only 4 non-clipped amraams internally.

What this means is that the F15 SE may be able to carry as many as 8 air to air missiles in internal storage stores. Not too bad huh.

belacan79

The point is not to make an F-22 or F-35 out of the F15SE. It will probably never be as stealthy as the F-22 or F-35. However, it will have significantly lower RCS compared to every other jet out there. The term "stealth" is a misnomer. It is really all about radar cross section(RCS). The F-22 and F-35 are not invisible. But they do have lower RCS which make them much harder to see, track and target first. The same principle applies with the F15 Silent Eagle. Even with a mix of internal and external weapons, it will still have much lower RCS compared to every other jet out there bar the F-22, F-35 and Pak-fa.

[ Last edited by  belacan79 at 19-3-2009 21:26 ]

alien7749

Old machine try to look young. Boeing is very desperate.

F-15 has very large radar cross section, bigger than B-52

belacan79

There are plenty of old machines around made to look young. Su-27(Su30ish), Mig-29s(Mig-31s), F16a/bs(F16 IND), etc. With the upgrades, they become 4.5 generation jets which is as far as they can go and a lot better than thier earlier incarnations. The radar cross-section of the F15 is not larger than a B-52. It is actually somewhere between  2-4 sq.m. In fact the RCS of most jets in the 4-4.5 generation is around there. Actual figures are secret.

matamata

IceMallet

U mean, F15 on Botox?

mentosonline

Old machine try to look young. Boeing is very desperate.

F-15 has very large radar cross section, bigger than B-52

How about the Su-30 series?

[ Last edited by  mentosonline at 22-3-2009 18:24 ]

innocentti

bigger than a byrd

belacan79

Bigger than any of the teens...F15..F16. It became a problem for the SU-35; hence the RCS reduction measures though i doubt it would help much unless they can load weapons internally.

HangPC2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kn6nx_GGERQ