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| Science & Technology |
| USAF to hang bombs on F-15C "Golden Eagle" |
| 2010-02-25 |
| Just two years ago, the U.S. Air Force expected to buy 381 F-22 Raptors and bring more than 1,700 smaller F-35 Lightning fighters into service beginning around 2013. With budget cuts, planning shifts and some big program delays, today the Air Force is getting just 187 F-22s and probably around 1,500 F-35s — these a couple years later than originally envisioned. The changes mean the fighter fleet will start shrinking soon, as old and lightly-built F-16s retire by the hundreds. “That will mean there may be a shortage of tactical aircraft that can deliver air-to-ground weapons,” Lieutenant Colonel Michael Buck, commander of the 186th Fighter Squadron, an F-15C Eagle unit, told Combat Aircraft. To bolster the F-22s and F-35s in the ground-attack role, the air service is borrowing a page from the Navy, which in the late 1990s modified its F-14 fighters to drop bombs. F-15C fighters could be modified as attack planes. The Air Force already had plans to fit new electronically-scanned radars, helmet sights, launch rails and other advanced gear to 178 of the youngest F-15Cs, which today average around 25 years old. A passive-seeking infrared sensor is also possible. These so-called “Golden Eagles” will fly alongside F-22s on air-superiority missions. Now, to replace retiring F-16s, Golden Eagles might pick up interfaces, software and mods to their new wide-band radar-warning receiver to allow them to detect and attack ground targets. |
| Posted by:gromky |
| #9 only about 35 of the A-6s are resting in the Atlantic, and they all had the old wornout metal wings. There are over 100 in 'war reserve' status out in the desert, and most of them are the composite wing upgraded version, a few new build metal ones are also there. and don't forget the KA-6Ds, for organic tanker support. And an entire maintenace and ready room contingent out here ready to go play with the SkyPig. |
| Posted by: USN,Ret. (in Michigan) 2010-02-25 23:14 |
| #8 Also the Air Force is playing a political game : if they order 100-160 new Strike Eagles, people are going to look at the cost of the Eagles vs the F-35s and wonder why the Air Force needs any F-35s. This way, they get a not-as-good interim replacement and can still argue that they need the F-35s. |
| Posted by: Shieldwolf 2010-02-25 19:33 |
| #7 The Strike Eagle was the E series of the F-15, and most were new builds or remanufactures of the latest Eagles off of the line. This is just a stopgap of upgrading the C series until it can be replaced by the F-35, or in the worst case scenario for the Air Force, as the interim air system to replace those F-35s that will not be built. |
| Posted by: Shieldwolf 2010-02-25 19:30 |
| #6 WTHeck? They already had a F-15 that carried bombs called the Strike Eagle. It flew in Desert Storm and Allied Force (Kosovo). Are they recycling stories? |
| Posted by: Cyber Sarge 2010-02-25 15:11 |
| #5 The A-6 makes a good bomb truck. I know where you can get a bunch of them, but you'll have to scrub off the saltwater stains. Posted by SteveS 2010-02-25 13:10 The A-7E Corsair II is also a great Light Attack Bomber. And there are plenty of them at the bone yard. |
| Posted by: Secret Asian Man 2010-02-25 14:19 |
| #4 there may be a shortage of tactical aircraft that can deliver air-to-ground weapons The A-6 makes a good bomb truck. I know where you can get a bunch of them, but you'll have to scrub off the saltwater stains. |
| Posted by: SteveS 2010-02-25 13:10 |
| #3 Anyone who has ever watched an A-10 work will attest that it is much more than a "half-way decent ground attack platform." However, if there are no enemy fighters, the MQ-9 can precisely deliver GBU-12 laser guided bombs and GBU-38 JDAMs as well as AGM-114 Hellfires. The advertised external payload is 3,000 pounds. The AF is buying Reapers as fast as General Atomics can build them. |
| Posted by: rwv 2010-02-25 12:38 |
| #2 I watched a prgoram about the A-10 which said they were good until 2025 (?). I believe it also said the A-10 was a halfway- decent ground-attack platform. |
| Posted by: Bobby 2010-02-25 05:39 |
| #1 The USAF actually considered this idea in the mid-80s, but it led to the F-15E Strike Eagle (aka the Beagle). However, the idea of 'not a pound for air to ground' is going to die hard in the Eagle community. Mike |
| Posted by: Mike Kozlowski 2010-02-25 05:13 |