This article first appeared in Aviation Week & Space Technology.
With radar-cross-section (RCS) trials for Boeing’s Silent Eagle semi-stealthy F-15 prototype complete, company officials are now focusing on South Korea as a possible first customer.
The RCS testing took place during a two-week period last August and September, although Boeing has only just acknowledged it because of proprietary issues, says Mark Bass, vice president of F-15 programs.
The company is eyeing South Korea’s forthcoming F-X3 competition for 60 fighters as the first sales opportunity for the Silent Eagle. The South Korean parliament’s recent hesitancy about investing in all-stealth aircraft “validates our approach” with the aircraft, says Bass. The company is considering potential international co-development partners for a Silent Eagle conformal fuel tank, although no announcements have been made.
Boeing is developing the variant for international customers that already operate F-15s and are seeking additional aircraft. The system is a possible alternative for nations interested in the Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. The Silent Eagle is not as stealthy as the JSF, but it could provide flexibility for countries trying to stretch their defense dollars.
In the early days of an air campaign, the Silent Eagle can be outfitted with weapon bays suitable for carrying air-to-air and air-to-ground weapons that would be tucked inside conformal fuel tanks, thus reducing the aircraft’s front-quadrant RCS. The aircraft could then be reconfigured in hours to handle the F-15’s characteristic heavy load of weapons once early threats are removed and sustainment operations begin.
The RCS tests on F-15E1, an Air Force test asset leased to Boeing, took place at the company’s anechoic chamber in St. Louis. Various coatings were evaluated and a final candidate has been selected and applied to the appropriate portions of the airframe. Testing produced the desired results, he said. Bass declined to provide details on the coating or the precise RCS numbers.
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– Christian
{ 12 comments… read them below or add one }
Is this particular eagle's stealth based solely on coatings? It'll probably look like a good deal as long as JSF is mired in the mud, but a few years down the road there's going to be a serious case of buyer's regret. That is if you were going to buy JSF in the first place…
I believe US should purchase (and upgrade existing F-15E) F-15SE as Raptor Lite to support lacking numbers of F-22A, while US Air Force officials claims the numbers of F-22A is below the level to maintain homeland airspace defense.
can we loose the term "homeland" its right up there with "the fatherland' and mother Russia "
Does anyone know whether they have flight tested any of the other parts of the SE on existing 15s? I know someone the works around Lambert who swears he saw a 15 with an 18s tail fly out of the airport before Christmas.
Pedestrian,
The problem isnt just the avionics ans such. The airframes of major combat aircraft like the eagle and such have a finite life time. Me myself i think if they could get better fuel efficency out of the silent eagle id say go with a few hundred of them insted of the f35 for the airforce.
To me the f35 has always been more of a naval and marine project anyways.
F-35A is more a light fighter and an attacker. The weakness of F-35A compare to F-15SE is its low max speed and limited range. In a fighter vs fighter fight and long range maritime patrol, that's an issue. However, F-35A is still useful in attacker roles to strike ground targets. In that term, an offensive stealth fighter. F-15SE is more a defensive stealth fighter. The strength is different between the two. Therefore, I beleive we may have both.
I think it all comes down to the price tag for retro-fits and new planes. Worst case scenario you end up with an overpriced F-15, but that still something.
Anyone else notice the tail? If we're back to the standard tail, did the slanted tails maybe help its cross-section too much and push over the legal limit for international sales?
Doubt that was it i was the legal limit. There isnt any secret tech in that its on the hornet afterall. Maybe this is just a old pic. Or maybe they found a reason not to have it.
Ok, so for roughly $100 million, note 22 million less then a Raptor at current fly away prices, you get less then an F35 stealth and less then Raptor performance.. Yeah, a real bargin here.
"Silent Eagle"? RCS reduction I can understand but silent? They have a long way to go to quiet that bird down. I used to live about 20 miles from Camp David and the USAF used F-15c's to chase down private planes that wandered too close to the restricted airspace. They would be doing ACM above my house, just showing off as far as I was concerned, but it was loud as hell. BTW why cant the DHS use A-10's for CAP? Seems to me they would be much cheaper to operate then the fast movers.
the F-15 silent eagle should able to attract a lot of international customers who still has the f-15s in their fleet but are looking something more stealthy. obviously they cant buy the f22 because of its sensitive tech advances that the USAF wants to have to themselves and the JSF is still being tested and becoming very expensive. so the f-15 silent eagle it is. its is easier for future and current f-15 pilots to do their rating (transfer a F-15 pilot to a silent eagle is not gona be a pain) and training, its cheaper to buy and maintain. Don't you agree? oh mushim i think the word silent eagle is not a literal one its figurative, sort of a play of word, i think they meant by silent or less detectable on the radar not noise level unfortunately .
I read an interesting article at flightglobal.com about a new engine that PW may develop that could be put on the F-15 or F-16. The engine will be based upon the PW1000G. I think this engine could make be a game changer for the F-15SE. The engine will have an 18% increase in fuel efficiency and will be of higher thrust then current F-15 engines.
http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2010/02/25/3…