Aviation
Military /
USA
F-15EX Eagle II
Renewed model of the extremely successful Boeing fighter starts testing in Alaska
F-15E
Gerry Metzler, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Gabriela Ramos
5/14/2021
Less than two months after being delivered, the United States Air Force's first two F-15EX fighters are being tested in Alaska, in a military exercise called Northern Edge 21. The fighter made its first test flight in February.
The tests are being carried out in an “environment of complex interference”, in order to test GPS, radar, and Link 16 interference and interoperability with other platforms, among other things.
According to the commander of the 53rd Wing, Colonel Ryan Messer, “Northern Edge is the ideal initial stress test for the platform and we are integrating it fully like any other participating aircraft. The goal of operational testing is not that everything goes smoothly, but to identify what needs to be improved, and Northern Edge, with its opportunities to integrate the fourth to fifth generation in an environment of complex reach, will show us exactly that ”.
The idea is for the F-15EX to replace the older F-15C / Ds in the fleet. In July 2020, the USAF signed a contract with Boeing for the construction of eight aircraft. The plan is for up to 144 fighter units to be built.
According to Major Aaron Eshkenazi, pilot of the F-15EX of the 85th Test and Evaluation Squadron, “the other main objective is to assess the interoperability of the EX with fourth and fifth generation assets. With more than 60 aircraft in the air during each vulnerability period on the Northern Edge, we are putting the jet into the role it will play once it is put on the ground and seeing how it does. So far, it is performing very well ”.
During the exercise, some pilots flew a second time on the F-15EX and, according to the USAF, the transition from the F-15C to the F-15 EX will be easy.
F-15E
Airman 1st Class Michael S. Dorus, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
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Gabriela Ramos
Gabriela is the latest addition to the editorial team of our website, having provided us with her solid background in editing, publishing and photography, and her interest and training in aviation history and historiography. His good taste and common sense and great cleverness and sagacity in the selection of themes and materials greatly enriched our vocabulary and narrative style. Gabriela brought unusual predicates and came to stay, helping to point the way of success of our portal.
   
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