F-15SE Silent Eagle (Two) F-15SE Silent Eagle, jet, fighter, multirole, combat, Boeing, stealth, fifth generation, USA, demonstrator, aircraft, airplane, military, defense, attack, widescreen, wallpaper, photo, picture, image.
The F-15SE Silent Eagle is the newest and hottest F-15 version to date - existing only as a technology demonstrator but with high hopes of potential foreign (i.e. non-US) sales. It is basically a modified Strike Eagle and these modifications pack a very powerful punch. The stealth and electronic enhancements are admittedly aimed at the A/A role, the A/G roles of the Strike Eagle remain basically the same (which still represents the highest standard in the world of strike fighters). F-15SE Silent Eagle Wallpaper 2. Boeing plans to offer the aircraft for non-US customers for mainly defensive counter-air missions, rather than offensive ground strikes in well defended airspaces. Conformal Weapons Bays ( CWB): A/A and A/G ordnance carried "outside" the jet increase the RCS of the aircraft. For this reason F-15SE features 4 internal weapon bays capable of carrying missiles and bombs. These bays are built into the conformal fuel tanks hence their name. This is a unique feature of the Silent Eagle, greatly increasing its stealth capabilities at the cost of reducing CFT fuel capacity considerably, which reduces aircraft's combat radius by 180-200 nm (to about 800 nm for A/G missions and 720 nm for CAP missions - using F110- GE-129 engines). Please note that these are factory data obviously calculated for ideal conditions. Real life combat radius will be somewhat smaller than these. Note that the Silent Eagle maintains a modular approach: the CWBs are built into a standard CFT, which attaches to the aircraft just like an ordinary CFT. This means that if there are no requirements for reduced RCS (no A/A opponents are expected), the aircraft can quickly be equipped with normal CFTs, thus increasing range and loiter time. F-15SE Silent Eagle Wallpaper 2. The change of CFTs requires around 2 hours and can be performed easily under field conditions. For another 1 hour work the underwing pylons can be put back on the jet for another hardpoint and two more external fuel tanks. This way the Silent Eagle can fly counter-air missions at the starting stages of an air campaign and once air dominance is achieved, it can convert back to the "traditional" mud mover role and fly A/G missions afterwards. Weapons: As for A/A ordnance, the Silent Eagle can internally carry the AIM-9 Sidewinder and the AIM-120 AMRAAM, one missile per CWB. From the AMRAAM family only the an AIM-120C or later model can be carried internally, since this has smaller wingspan designed specially for internal carriage. For A/G ordnance the jet is able to internally carry 500 lbs and 1,000 lbs JDAM bombs (one weapon per CWB) and the 250 lbs GBU-39 SDB (two weapons per CWB). For a multirole mission, internally carried weapon loadouts can be split between the above mentioned A/A and A/G weapons. If no stealth capabilities are needed, the aircraft can be changed back to a normal strike profile, using normal CFT's - in this configuration the aircaft performs just like an F-15E Strike Eagle in terms of weapon payload and employment capabilities. Vertical Stabilators: The twin tails of the F-15SE are canted outwards by 15 degrees (see image above), this helps to decrease the aircraft's RCS in air-to-air engagements. This is probably the most visible difference between the Strike Eagle and the Silent Eagle. As an added bonus, canted tails (the same design is used on the F/A-18 Hornet) improve aerodynamic efficiency, generate lift and reduce airframe weight (by allowing to remove some 400-500 lbs of ballast weight from the front section of the aircraft) too. RCS Reduction: Although the aircraft's fuselage is very similar to the Strike Eagle by the look, it's quite different in reality. Boeing engineers incorporate stealth technology by using coatings and treatments which reduce radar reflections and thermal loads of the fuselage. Note that the US government limits the use of specific materials in aircrafts to be sold outside the US - this may vary from customer to customer according to actual political considerations. According to Boeing, the special radar absorbing coatings offer an equivalent amount of front-aspect stealth that modern 5th generation fighters. This sounds nice, but not too specific. Boeing remains a bit unclear in this topic to say the least: in 2009 they claimed to have the same amount of stealth that Lockheed Martin's F-35 JSF offers, but in 2010 they softened their statement somewhat by saying that the Silent Eagle offers the same level of front-aspect stealth than the "international release version" of the JSF, but Lockheed Martin officials denied even the very existence of such international release standards. F-15SE Silent Eagle Wallpaper 2 |
<< Home