Stealth Eagle?

wolfsith · by **wolfsith** » 17 Mar 2009, 19:56

Hi folks

I know this could be considered off topic, but I was just reading about the Boeing F-15SE or Silent Eagle

Fascinating, kind of like an exportable F-22A Raptor Lite

Here are some pictures from Air-Attack.com

Master-of-Disaster · by **Master-of-Disaster** » 17 Mar 2009, 21:13

I have never heard of anyting like this before, and it looks as someone is very good with photoshop if you ask me.

parrothead · by **parrothead** » 17 Mar 2009, 21:15

I was pretty shocked, too - but it's real

http://www.boeing.com/news/releases/200 ... 7a_nr.html

Kryptid · by **Kryptid** » 17 Mar 2009, 21:28

Very nice. An interesting development indeed.

Makes me wonder about its performance in comparison to the newest Flanker on the block; the Su-35BM.

PhillyGuy · by **PhillyGuy** » 17 Mar 2009, 21:58

More like F-35 lite. At nearly 100 million a pop it is not worth buying, unless you can't get a SuperBug, or an F-35. It will still be highly vulnerable to IR and ground SAM/radar systems, not to mention the F-15E is not kinematically the best out there.
But it is intended for the foreign market, so we'll see.

skyhigh · by **skyhigh** » 17 Mar 2009, 23:29

The F-15SE Silent Eagle, unlike the F-22 Raptor, is intended for bombing strikes over poorly defended zones, not over SAM-protected juicy nuclear facilities defended like barbed wire, where all-aspect stealth would be required.

I would like the RAAF, my country's air force, to purchase these cool useful fighter-bombers.

FlightDreamz · by **FlightDreamz** » 18 Mar 2009, 02:06

Looks like they need to mask the intakes better if they want to make a "stealth F-15". And I'm not wildly optimistic about this ever reaching production, still its interesting.

strykerxo · by **strykerxo** » 18 Mar 2009, 02:32

Little production, maybe.

The kit option is intriguing. The F-15SE looks as though it would be simple, without much structural modifications, except for the tails.

cywolf32 · by **cywolf32** » 18 Mar 2009, 05:36

I totally like its versatility. You can either hang the new CFT's for the stealth profile or hang regular CFT's and restore it to its regular configuration. PhillyGuy, considering the F-15's excellent air combat record (no losses), its performance against most other acft types, and the fact that new coatings and stealth features ala superbug can be applied should not be discounted. Lets not also forget what happened at Red Flag with India's Su-30 MKI's. JHMC, data links, hobs missiles, AESA, etc..... lots to still offer here in the Eagle. Stick a couple of 132's in her if your worried about kinematic performance. Look at what Russia has done with the Su-27. Potential is there if you want to look for it (F-16XL,F-15E). Everyone would love a Ferrari if money were no object. I think its a sound idea. :2c:

skyhigh · by **skyhigh** » 18 Mar 2009, 07:08

Best U.S. made Gen 4.5 fighter out there.

Since its avionics and RCS reduction features approach that of a Gen 5 fighter, maybe the Silent Eagle should be classified a Gen 4.75 fighter.

Pilotasso · by **Pilotasso** » 18 Mar 2009, 13:35

There are still discontinuities and right angles on that plane. Nowhere near as stealthyas F-22 or F-35. Best you can hope for is to become slipery at BVR when you turn to certain aspect angles.

geogen · by **geogen** » 18 Mar 2009, 14:14

Now we know what 'Viperalltheway' does for a day job! :lol:

Genius really, if not so simplistic and common sensed. This sort of innovation and rapid development - sort of like a hurry up football offense - can clearly be driven by competition (with the alternative - getting crushed by the as-is status quo).

I'll give a response to respected PhillyGuy however: $100 per pop is cheap, no?, compared to the estimated per pop for first 650 accelerated F-35s? (@ $140m ea. + later blk 3 software touch-up)? And consider you're talking about 4x clean 1,000lb class JDAM w/ -15SE, compared to 2x in F-35? Further, Boeing's exec claimed the frontal axis X-band RCS could equal F-35? Have they pronounced that detail ever, when marketing Super Hornet?

I don't know about USAF buying any new mods, but perhaps every retrofit kit the better, for remaining F-15Es as long as they're going to be working the 21st century? Sounds like a no-brainer.

geogen · by **geogen** » 18 Mar 2009, 14:37

Pilotasso wrote:There are still discontinuities and right angles on that plane. Nowhere near as stealthyas F-22 or F-35. Best you can hope for is to become slipery at BVR when you turn to certain aspect angles.

Wow, and the CHN judge scores an 8.5 lol. JK, good points.

But isn't 'slippery' definitely good, if not essential - assuming your opponent will be as well? Not to mention, assuming it comes to superior sensors and weapons capability to counter the inevitable 21st century slips?

Sounds like an overall relevant frontline package for at least the stop-gap/supplemental years.

Bodizzle · by **Bodizzle** » 18 Mar 2009, 17:36

Wow, only took 37 years to get a digital flight control system, now maybe the line in my CDC's that says "state of the art flight controls" can be taken half-way seriously. As for retrofitting the USAF's current inventory, isn't the idea to replace our current inventory with 5th Gens? The Es are already twenty years old, just like the Block 40 16s. Sure those CFTs would be an awesome upgrade, but so would a new radar for the Vipers and we haven't seen those either.

Goodwin · by **Goodwin** » 18 Mar 2009, 19:28

Stealth Eagle is really a Singapore F-15. They would be misrepresenting the facts had they allowed people to truly think that this F-15SE was a stealth airframe as the only new thing is the design of the CFT's to incorporate air to air missiles embedded inside instead of being hung outside in an effort to improve the stealthiness of the F-15.

Using the CFT to hide air to air missiles is ingenious but how much will its radar reflectivity be be decreased compared to a truly stealth F-22/F-35? Boeing could have found the answer with the company operated F-15E 86-183 which is the first F-15E ever built. Probably not much difference between F-15E 86-183 and the "Stealth Eagle" which is really F-15SE of Singapore. And the CFT hiding missiles will carry much less fuel than non-missile imbedded CFT's.

A stealth F-15 would include stealth coatings on the airframe from the F-22 and a redesigned air intake. Plus building new F-15E's will allow them to be used as CAP aircraft to check out suspicous/hostile aircraft out there including Cessnas lost in restricted airspace! You do not want to waste airframe off a F-22 sending it out to check out a Cessna!