F-15 Eagle

The F-15 Eagle aircraft is a series of air superiority fighters, designed for the United States Air Force. Production began with the F-15A single-seat and F-15B two-seat (trainer) versions; the current U.S. production versions are the F-15C and F-15D. In the system of fighter generations, it is usually considered fourth generation.

While an informal motto for the designers was "not a pound for air to ground", a two-seat fighter-bomber variant, the F-15E Strike Eagle, has proved to be a formidable combat performer.

Role

Before the F-15E was developed, the F-15 series was seen as a "high end" air superiority fighter. Under John Boyd's concept of "high-low", the F-16 Fighting Falcon was the Air Force low end, intended as a fighter-bomber although having significant air superiority capability.

Foreign operators

There are a number of foreign operators, including Israel, Japan, and Saudi Arabia, with variants specific to national needs and U.S. export controls.

Successor

For the United States, the successor to the F-15 air superiority and probably advanced fighter bomber series is the F-22 Raptor.

F-15s can extend their range both with aerodynamically efficient conformal fuel tanks that effectively become part of the fuselage, as well as wing-mounted drop tanks. Still, they routinely use air refueling.