F-15X: USAF Seems Interested

USAF has "NO" interest is acquiring any more F-15's...."PERIOD"

But I have interest in watching them

I noticed some interesting features I noticed looking at the F-15E vs SA vs X vs 2040c

The 2040c concept had fairly drastic changes to both the left and right wing root/cannon geometry. The F-15SA has similar looking “ears” on either side of the canopy. Does anyone have an idea what their purpose might be?

The F-15X concept has less drastic reshaping at the right wing root but appears as though it may not have a cannon at all.

Sorry if this has been brought up before!

ECM. Singapore (F-15SG) has them too.

The USAF isn't buying the F-15X......(again for the thousand time)

They are part of the ESM, Rafale has a similar layout.

F-23, Huh? A hush program just like the fictitious XB-70 prototype converted to a space launch system. Wishful thinking.

Perhaps, but consider this...

The US "Black" budget is as large (or larger) than the entire defense budget of Great Britain. That's a lot of buckaroos, and not all of them are going toward stealthy flying wing ISR type aircraft. The YF-23A demonstrated phenomenal speed, agility but especially supercruise. In fact, it was said that it could fly an entire mission in super-cruise. The Raptor isn't capable of this, nor is the F-35. Nor is any other US platform that you can name.

A small force of 50 or so F-23A's would generate an incredible set of capabilities for the USAF, in the same way the F-117 did (total of 59 produced). Could be easily absorbed by that black budget, and would also be a nice hedge against F-35 program delays, which would have been occurring in spades right around the time this F-23A would have become operational.

The fact YF-23A performance specs are to this day still classified should tell us something. Nearly 30 years ago, it flew with capabilities still unrealized today. I rather doubt the USAF just sat on them, nevermind developed them further...

F-23, Huh? A hush program just like the fictitious XB-70 prototype converted to a space launch system. Wishful thinking.

Perhaps, but consider this...

The US "Black" budget is as large (or larger) than the entire defense budget of Great Britain. That's a lot of buckaroos, and not all of them are going toward stealthy flying wing ISR type aircraft. The YF-23A demonstrated phenomenal speed, agility but especially supercruise. In fact, it was said that it could fly an entire mission in super-cruise. The Raptor isn't capable of this, nor is the F-35. Nor is any other US platform that you can name.

A small force of 50 or so F-23A's would generate an incredible set of capabilities for the USAF, in the same way the F-117 did (total of 59 produced). Could be easily absorbed by that black budget, and would also be a nice hedge against F-35 program delays, which would have been occurring in spades right around the time this F-23A would have become operational.

The fact YF-23A performance specs are to this day still classified should tell us something. Nearly 30 years ago, it flew with capabilities still unrealized today. I rather doubt the USAF just sat on them, nevermind developed them further...

They didn't do anything with the YF-12, XB-70, Skybolt, or ASALM, so doing nothing with the YF-23 wouldn't be unprecedented.

Not entirely true..

The YF-12A's weapons systems eventually made their way into the F-14. And NASA continued using it as well as various Blackbird iterations for high speed/high altitude research. Ditto for the XB-70.

"Despite the accomplishments of the XB-70, time was running out for the research program. NASA had reached an agreement with the Air Force to fly research missions with a pair of YF-12As and a "YF-12C," which was actually an SR-71. These represented a far more advanced technology than that of the XB-70. In all, the two XB-70s had logged 1 hour and 48 minutes of Mach 3 flight time. A YF-12 could log this much Mach 3 time in a single flight.:"

We are told both died with NASA. Perhaps. But the data collected undoubtedly made its way into other programs, and its a safe bet at least some of it found its way back into the black world. You don't just ditch aircraft and associated technologies that are so cutting edge. And there's at least one suspicious quote out there from the YF-23A team that it "continues to fly today, in one form or another".

What happen to the USAF interest in the F-15X???

The old girl still has some life in her

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdF-wpGbg70

Please, we've been over this again and again. The USAF has no interest in the F-15X and is not going to buy it....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdF-wpGbg70

12 new F-15X sounds like a test/evaluation squadron, not an operational capability. It probably doesn't even go this far, as the Pentagon may be looking for a price quote, vs. real aircraft. I love the F-15 and salivate at Boeing building the penultimate air to air version, but there's no point IMO. The F-35 does almost everything better and cheaper (total AAM loadout and cost per flight hour, off the top of my head).

I spoke with an F-35 pilot at this year's Great New England Airshow. He came from F-15's and said, "90% of what I can do in this airplane, I could never do in the F-15...". An F-16 pilot at the same show said his radar couldn't detect 2 F-35's that were 12 miles away. And that was after ground control told him where to look...

Speaks volumes..

Looks like Boeing's building a sales pitch around the carrying capabilities of the F-15X.

The USAF benefits from long ranged AAMs that are too big to fit into the internal bay. External mounting on F-35 really defeats the whole purpose of the F-35 in the first instance and even then the F-15X can carry 20+ AAMs. So ta-da... the quintessential missile truck.

12 just enough to test the concept. Longer range AAMs can be develop which will benefit the PCA. Win-win. Then in the 9th inning, pitch for more F-15Xs after the initial 12.

If you are betting the farm on a concept that at best might be used one or twice in your lifetime, then you have failed in defining a need for your airframe.

You don't need F-15X to "test the concept". Put some on some F-15Es.