McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle

Video from the channel Hoje no Mundo Militar about McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle, linked on its Above Ten Thousand entry. Duration: 13:29. Language: Portuguese. Video type: Documentary.

An explainer piece from the Portuguese channel Hoje no Mundo Militar that reviews the origin, technical characteristics, variants and combat history of the McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle, conceived as an air superiority fighter.

In the late 1960s, in the middle of the Vietnam War, the US armed forces were debating the successor to the F-4 Phantom, which had also been used there as an air superiority fighter. The appearance of the Soviet MiG-25 reinforced the search for a more advanced aircraft. After years of debate between advocates of a heavy multirole fighter and those favoring a lighter, more agile one, the Air Force chose McDonnell Douglas's proposal in December 1969. The F-15A flew in July 1972, the F-15B in July 1973, and the aircraft entered service in 1976.

It carries two Pratt & Whitney F100 engines whose thrust exceeds the aircraft's weight, letting it accelerate while climbing vertically. The video gives a figure of about 2,700 km/h at high altitude, a ceiling of 65,000 feet (about 20,000 m) and a climb to 10,000 m in 60 seconds. Its low wing loading gives it great agility, and the look-down/shoot-down radar was a novelty for its time. It is armed with AIM-7 Sparrow, AIM-120 AMRAAM and AIM-9 Sidewinder missiles and a 20 mm M61 Vulcan cannon. The F-15E Strike Eagle variant added ground-attack capability. South Korea operates it as the F-15K, and Japan builds the F-15J under license through Mitsubishi. It debuted in combat with Israel in 1979 against Syrian MiGs. It later fought in the Gulf War and in Yugoslavia in 1999. In 1985, as part of the ASAT program, an F-15 destroyed a satellite in orbit with an ASM-135 missile.