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The F-15(E) is the only aircraft capable of carrying the bigger munitions and in large quantities including the heavier nuclear gravity bombs that isn’t a strat

The F-15(E) is the only aircraft capable of carrying the bigger munitions and in large quantities including the heavier nuclear gravity bombs that isn’t a strategic bomber. With the F-14 gone and the F-111 gone the US doesn’t have the ability to drop big heavy bombs outside of using a B-52/B-2/B-1 bomber. The strike eagle is aging and the F-35 isn’t as suited for ground attack missions.

dragonwriter 6y ago
> The strike eagle is aging and the F-35 isn’t as suited for ground attack missions. Ground attack is literally the reason the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter exists, so it not being as suited for it as an upgraded F-15 is a pretty big indictment of the program.
- dogma1138 6y ago
  It’s as suited as the F-16 it’s a small multi role fighter I don’t think you understand just how much bigger the F-15 is. https://qph.fs.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-46eaff74c15723fcc73d979a8f5fff59 https://qph.fs.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-46eaff74c15723fcc73d97...
  - CarbyAu 6y ago
    Your picture didn't really help me visualise. Roughly halfway down this thread though... http://www.f-16.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=63&t=55069 http://www.f-16.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=63&t=55069
    - dogma1138 6y ago
      Yep that’s the kind of picture I was looking for but couldn’t find on google images.
  - dragonwriter 6y ago
    > It’s as suited as the F-16 That's also a problem, since we’re talking about it's core mission where it's supposed to be a more capable replacement for the F-16, and is several times as expensive (both initially and per flight hour).
    - dogma1138 6y ago
      It’s more capable because it has better avionics and electronics, the F-16 just like the F-15 still needs a targeting pod for many ground attack missions. The F-15E was built for air interdiction to replace the F4/F111 it has a better radar (especially for ground attack), a more sophisticated electronics warfare system and more busses for high bandwidth electronics such as targeting pods than it’s air superiority brothers. The F-35 is an advancement over the F-16 it was supposed to be and is a relatively cheap (for a 5th gen fighter) multi-role platform it’s more advanced than the F-16 in every aspect for example much of the capability that a targeting pod such as the LITENING provides is integral to the F-35 and the fact that it carries about 2.5 times the fuel than the F-16 means it can carry much more munitions instead of fuel tanks (F-16E/F with conformal fuel tanks comes closer without expanding hard points) What you can’t change is it’s main characteristics and that is its a single seat single engine multi-role fighter so regardless of how more advanced it is it simply doesn’t have the hard points due to its size and due to the fact that it’s a single seater it is more limited than a two seater aircraft when it comes to operating in denied airspaces and missions that require a pilot and a weapons officer. Saying that it’s a problem because the F-35 is more expensive currently is nonsense the F-16 is the most produced fighter of the modern era comparing its cost now to the F-35 is silly. The F-35 is unquestionably more capable than the F-16, but it doesn’t mean that the US currently doesn’t have a gap in its capabilities specifically for interdiction and deep air support missions. During the early to mid development of the F-35 an F-35E was considered it was to be a larger two seater variant of the F-35 without S/VTOL capabilities to replace the F-15E but due to the cost and lower part commonality between it and the rest of the F-35 line up it was abandoned.

dragonwriter 6y ago

> The strike eagle is aging and the F-35 isn’t as suited for ground attack missions. Ground attack is literally the reason the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter exists, so it not being as suited for it as an upgraded F-15 is a pretty big indictment of the program.

dogma1138 6y ago
It’s as suited as the F-16 it’s a small multi role fighter I don’t think you understand just how much bigger the F-15 is. https://qph.fs.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-46eaff74c15723fcc73d979a8f5fff59 https://qph.fs.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-46eaff74c15723fcc73d97...
- CarbyAu 6y ago
  Your picture didn't really help me visualise. Roughly halfway down this thread though... http://www.f-16.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=63&t=55069 http://www.f-16.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=63&t=55069
  - dogma1138 6y ago
    Yep that’s the kind of picture I was looking for but couldn’t find on google images.
- dragonwriter 6y ago
  > It’s as suited as the F-16 That's also a problem, since we’re talking about it's core mission where it's supposed to be a more capable replacement for the F-16, and is several times as expensive (both initially and per flight hour).
  - dogma1138 6y ago
    It’s more capable because it has better avionics and electronics, the F-16 just like the F-15 still needs a targeting pod for many ground attack missions. The F-15E was built for air interdiction to replace the F4/F111 it has a better radar (especially for ground attack), a more sophisticated electronics warfare system and more busses for high bandwidth electronics such as targeting pods than it’s air superiority brothers. The F-35 is an advancement over the F-16 it was supposed to be and is a relatively cheap (for a 5th gen fighter) multi-role platform it’s more advanced than the F-16 in every aspect for example much of the capability that a targeting pod such as the LITENING provides is integral to the F-35 and the fact that it carries about 2.5 times the fuel than the F-16 means it can carry much more munitions instead of fuel tanks (F-16E/F with conformal fuel tanks comes closer without expanding hard points) What you can’t change is it’s main characteristics and that is its a single seat single engine multi-role fighter so regardless of how more advanced it is it simply doesn’t have the hard points due to its size and due to the fact that it’s a single seater it is more limited than a two seater aircraft when it comes to operating in denied airspaces and missions that require a pilot and a weapons officer. Saying that it’s a problem because the F-35 is more expensive currently is nonsense the F-16 is the most produced fighter of the modern era comparing its cost now to the F-35 is silly. The F-35 is unquestionably more capable than the F-16, but it doesn’t mean that the US currently doesn’t have a gap in its capabilities specifically for interdiction and deep air support missions. During the early to mid development of the F-35 an F-35E was considered it was to be a larger two seater variant of the F-35 without S/VTOL capabilities to replace the F-15E but due to the cost and lower part commonality between it and the rest of the F-35 line up it was abandoned.