McDonnell Douglas F15 Eagle

McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle

Plans for the F-15 began in 1965 as the U.S.A.F. began looking for a replacement for the F-4 Phantom that would incorporate ideas from the lessons learned in Vietnam. The plane was to be designed for a long-range air superiority role, with twin engines, an internal gun, sufficient range to deploy to Europe without refueling, and Mach 2.5 capability. McDonnell Douglas won the design contest, and in 1972 the F-15 made its maiden flight. More than two decades later, the F-15 remains the United States' premier air superiority fighter, and as such is only exported to well-trusted allied nations. Operators besides the U.S.A.F. include Israel, Japan and Saudi Arabia. The updated F-15C (408 built) is the current single-seat air combat version; intentions to further update the F-15 were cancelled with the arrival of the F-22, which will replace the F-15 by 2010.

The plane has a crew of one. It is armed with a single 20mm cannon in the nose. In addition, F-15 can also carry 16,000 lbs. of disposable ordnance on five body and two underwing hardpoints. Typical stores are the AIM-7 Sparrow, AIM-9 Sidewinder, AIM-120 AMRAAM, Python 3, Python 4, and AGM-88 HARM. Alternatively, the F-15 can also carry 9,750 lbs. in external fuel. The F-15 Eagle burns 880 gallons of jet fuel per hour of routine usage. It has a combat radius of 2,440 miles and an endurance of 5.25 hours. This can be increased to 15 hours with in-flight refueling.

McDonnell Douglas F-15C Eagle

Subassemblies: Body +4, High-Agility Wings +3, 3 retractable small Wheels +0.

Powertrain: Two 14,670-lb. thrust Turbofans with Afterburners, 2,300-kWs advanced battery.

Fuel: 2,070 gallons jet fuel (Fire 13) in standard self-sealing fuel tank (Fire -1) [Body and Wings].

Occupancy: 1 NCS.

Cargo: 0.

Armor F RL B T U

All: 4/20 4/20 4/20 4/20 4/20

Weaponry:

20mm Cannon/M61A1 Vulcan [Body:F] (940 rounds SAPHE).

16,000-lbs. disposable ordnance [Body/Wings:U].

Equipment:

Body: Long range radio, navigation instruments, IFF, autopilot, ejection seat, refueling probe, advanced radar detector, HUDWAC, flight recorder, dedicated targeting computer, 0.25 man/days limited life support, five hardpoints. Wings: One hardpoint each.

Statistics:

Size: 64'x43'x19' Payload: 14.7 tons Lwt.: 34 tons

Volume: 1034 cf. Maint.: 10 hours Price: $3,756,049

HT: 8. HPs: 1125 Body, 912 each Wing, 102 each Wheel.

aSpeed: 1665 aAccel: 9/14 aDecel: 26 aMR: 6.5 aSR: 4

Stall Speed: 165 mph.

gSpeed: 470/599 gAccel: 24/30 gDecel: 10 gMR: 0.25 gSR: 3

Ground Pressure Extremely High. No Off-Road speed.

Design Notes:

Body is 495 cf; wheels are 24.75 cf; wings are 361 cf. Wing volume was reverse-calculated from historical wing area. Structure is Heavy, Standard with Superior Streamlining. Armor is expensive metal. Mechanical controls. Design Loaded weight is 59,948 lbs.; this falls between typical mission weight and maximum take-off weight (44,630 and 68,000 lbs., respectively). Design empty weight was 29,729 lbs.; this was within 4% of the historical. Historical values for wing area and maximum take-off weight were used for performance calculations. Design aSpeed is 1,499 mph, 1,910 mph with afterburner. The historical top speed is shown above. -37 mph to aSpeed per loaded hardpoint. Historical cost is $29.9 million in 1998.

Variants:

The F-15A (1976) does not have a radar detector and can only carry 11,600 lbs. of fuel. 355 built.

The F-15B (1974) is a two-seat combat capable trainer version of the -A. 57 built. The -D (1979) is the trainer version of the -C. 61 built.

The F-15E is a two-seat ground attack version. It features terrain-following radar, FLIR, ECM, and dual controls. Ammo for the M61A1 is reduced to 512 rounds. Disposable ordnance can include AAMs like the -C, plus AGM-65 Maverick, a variety of guided and unguided bombs, and the B57 or B61 tactical nuclear weapons. 209 built.

The F-15J is license-built by Mitsubishi for Japan. It is essentially a F-15C sans ECM, radar warning, and nuclear capability. 211 built. The -DJ is the two-seat trainer version; 12 built.

From the Aerodrome for GURPS