New F15"S"E

Steyr

Boeing put out a press release earlier today about their new F-15SE, an Eagle with a few differences...







The Boeing Company today in St. Louis unveiled the F-15 Silent Eagle (F-15SE), a new F-15 configuration designed to meet the future needs of international customers.

"The F-15 Silent Eagle is designed to meet our international customers' anticipated need for cost-effective stealth technologies, as well as for large and diverse weapons payloads," said Mark Bass, F-15 Program vice president for Boeing. "The innovative Silent Eagle is a balanced, affordable approach designed to meet future survivability needs."

Improvements in stealth include coatings and treatments on the aircraft. With the added advantage of redesigned conformal fuel tanks (CFTs) that allow for internal weapons carriage, the Silent Eagle becomes a very attractive fighter for Boeing's international customers.

Depending on the specific mission, the customer can use the CFTs that are designed for internal carriage or change back to the traditional CFTs for optimum fuel capacity and external weapons carriage. The Silent Eagle will be able to internally carry air-to-air missiles such as the AIM-9 and AIM-120 and air-to-ground weapons such as the Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) and Small Diameter Bomb (SDB). The standard weapons load used on current versions of the F-15 is available with the traditional CFTs installed.

The aircraft's canted vertical tails improve aerodynamic efficiency, provide lift, and reduce airframe weight. Another aerodynamic improvement is the Digital Flight Control System, which improves the aircraft's reliability and reduces airframe weight.

Survivability improvements include a BAES Digital Electronic Warfare System (DEWS) working in concert with the Raytheon Advanced Electronic Scanning Array (AESA) radar.

Boeing has completed a conceptual prototype of the CFT internal-carriage concept, and plans to flight-test a prototype by the first quarter of 2010, including a live missile launch.

The design, development, and test of this internal carriage system are available as a collaborative project with an international aerospace partner.

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Personally i dont like it one bit, canted tails look off and i prefer the E model as she is.

Delta Kilo

Hard to believe that those pictures (especially the first one) is a computer generated photorealistic image. So realistic.

Steyr

http://images.stltoday.com/stltoday/resources/stealth625march17.jpg

March 17, 2009 -- Dan Korte, Boeing's vice president and general manager for Global Strike Systems, speaks during the unveiling of the F-15 Silent Eagle on Tuesday in St. Louis. (Jeff Roberson/AP)

Captain Chaos

I like how the tease by not showing the rear of the jet. It may have TV engines. Hopefully the PW -232s will come back on line for this or possibly a variant of the PW -119s used in the F-22. Supercrusing F-15s will be able to throw an AIM-120D or a JDAM very far.

I still think they need to do some research on the variable intakes to lower the RCS and sweep them so the fan blades are not visible to radar.

Scruff

more info here

Boeing claims the end-result is an aircraft that can match the frontal-aspect stealth profile of any fifth generation fighter in configurations cleared by the US government for export release.
“We know we can get to the US government release level for international customers,” says Brad Jones, Boeing’s manager for future F-15 programmes.
To be fair, Boeing acknowledges the F-15SE’s stealth improvements do not help against ground-based radar systems, which are critical for waging offensive strikes against opponents armed with surface to air missile systems. Lowering the F-15SE’s thermal signature - a critical stealthy feature for the Lockheed Martin F-22 - is also not part of Boeing plans.
But Boeing says the F-15SE is aimed at international customers more likely to use the aircraft for defensive, counter-air missions, rather than offensive strikes in defended airspace where all-aspect stealth is necessary for survival.
Despite the stealth improvements, Boeing insists the F-15SE would not tradeoff sensor or aerodynamic performance. The Raytheon APG-63(V)3 radar would remain canted slightly forward rather than tilted back, preserving coverage and range at the expense of head-on radar cross section.
Moreover, Boeing has designed the F-15SE to also function as a non-stealthy, multi-role aircraft with the F-15E’s full payload of 13,200kg (29,000lb) of weapons. The conformal fuel tanks with the internal weapons bay can be quickly removed after landing, allowing the aircraft to takeoff with a full payload within 2h.

Captain Chaos

Here is a video of the weapon bays in operation.

http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1847329143/bctid16748936001

Steyr

A bit slow to open isn't it? I still dont like it, gimme a regular F15E "Mud Hen" any day.