Why the F-15 EX and F-35 fighter jets make the Israeli Air Force invincible

Why Israel needs the F-15EX in addition to the F-35 in the Middle East

The F-15EX Eagle II is essentially the latest and greatest version of the two-seat F-15E Strike Eagle, which is excellent both as a fighter and as a “bomber carrier,” aka an attack aircraft. As Boeing proudly states on its Eagle II information page, “Ready to fight right off the assembly line, the F-15EX is the most affordable, reliable, and fastest way to upgrade and expand the capabilities of a tactical fighter fleet… With lower operating costs than other fighters, four times the combat load capacity, and twice the fuel capacity, range, and speed, the F-15EX is a modern solution that air forces around the world can deploy in the shortest possible time.” So the question is: Now that the Eagle II has finally officially entered service with the U.S. Air Force in June of this year, will it be as good a choice for the Israeli Air Force? My short answer is, yes. an unconditional “Ken, adoni (Yes, sir)!”.

Let me tell you what's what.

A long, happy relationship: the story of the F-15 in service with the Israeli Air Force

First of all, it is a matter of precedent. The Israeli Air Force (IAF for short) and the F-15 series, which they officially renamed the Raam [Thunder], have a long and positive relationship dating back to 1977, when the fighter was produced by its original manufacturer — McDonnell Douglas, which eventually merged with Boeing in 1997.

According to the World Directory of Modern Military Aircraft (WDMMA), the IAF has a total of 58 F-15s, 25 F-15Is, 17 F- 15C and 16 old F-15A.

And although Eagle — an American warbird, for the first time in battle it was “bloodied” not by the Americans, but by the Israelis. Coincidentally, or maybe not quite, the F-16 Fighting Falcon fighter produced by the American General Dynamics and Lockheed Martin was used for the first time in the same battle: it is about the operation “Opera”, aka operation “Babylon” — the 1981 airstrike on Saddam Hussein's Osirak nuclear reactor.

As I noted in one of the previous articles, “On June 7, 1981, the lot was cast. At 3:55 p.m. that day, eight US Air Force F-16A aircraft, each carrying two unguided 900-kilogram Mk-84 bombs (BLU -117) with a delayed burst, accompanied by six F-15A Eagles providing overhead cover/fighter escort, set out on their fateful mission.They took off from the now-defunct Etzion Air Base in the Sinai Peninsula… 14 of the 16 bombs hit the dome and destroyed the reactor. The strike killed ten Iraqi soldiers and one French engineer… The entire IAF strike group returned to Etzion, completely unscathed, at 7 p.m.”

Although the Eagle II is certainly not cheap — $97 million for the glider, which, according to my National Interest colleague Harrison Cass, is 359520000 Israeli shekels at current exchange rates, — I believe that the IDF should easily afford it. After all, Israel already has 39 F-35s at a cost of $82.5 million, or 302.85 million shekels.

In addition, the Eagle II inherited the unparalleled combat record of its ancestors: an undefeated 104:0 kill ratio in dogfights, although to be fair, only one of those kills was by an F-15E. In addition, most of the losses were not carried out by American F-15 pilots, but, you guessed it, by Israeli F-15I pilots.

The perfect complement to the F-35 Lightning II

Classic an example of history repeating itself: the Israelis were the first to use the F-15 in combat in a pair with the F-16, and in the same way, the Lightning II has already been successfully used in combat in a pair with the F-35I “Adir”.

And just as the U.S. Air Force is using the 4.5-generation Eagle II as a stop-gap measure to address a production shortage of the fifth-generation Lockheed F-22 Raptor caused by then-Secretary of Defense Bob Gates' short-sighted decision to prematurely wind down the program in 2009 , it could be a great addition to the fifth generation Adir fighter program for the IAF. And since none of the biggest opponents of Israel — Iran and Syria — no fifth-generation fighters, the F-15EX/F-35 tandem will be an even more powerful means of increasing efficiency for the Israelis in the race for air supremacy in the Middle East.

Will there be downsides?

Well, there's the small, trivial matter of Boeing's high-profile safety issues. But seeing as how the IAF has managed to avoid the operational errors of its F-35s that have consistently plagued the US Lightning IIs, I suspect that the same Israeli ingenuity will come in handy for the F-15EXs if and when these fighter jets are acquired.< /p>

About the author

Christian D. Orr — former Air Force officer, federal law enforcement officer, and private military contractor (has worked in Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Kosovo, Japan, Germany, and the Pentagon). Chris earned a BA in International Relations from the University of Southern California (USC) and an MA in Intelligence (with a concentration in Terrorism Studies) from the American Military University (AMU). He has also appeared in The Daily Torch and The Journal of Intelligence and Cyber ​​Security.