Chapter 607 (1/2)

Enjoy this fighter in front of you from a close distance. Its shock is incomparably powerful.

After World War II, the U.S. Air Force has become one of the most powerful air forces in the world. The only thing that can oppose the U.S. air force is the air force of the former Soviet Union.

As the absolute main fighter of the US air force from the 1970s to the first five years of the new century, F15 plays an important role in the US air force.

In the 1960s, the cold war between the two super empires of the United States and the Soviet Union became increasingly fierce, and the importance of air control became more and more prominent.

At that time, aircraft designers generally believed that the maximum flight speed and maximum flight altitude were the magic weapon for fighters to win. In the future air war, the use of long-range missiles will make close combat history.

However, this idea was ruthlessly overturned on the Vietnam battlefield, because the American F-4 ”ghost” fighter with these characteristics on the Vietnam battlefield was repeatedly shot down by the ”backward” MiG-21 or even MiG-17. Therefore, the United States began to reflect on this design idea and changed to the design idea of paying equal attention to the ability of long-range interception and short-range air combat.

Under the guidance of this new design idea, the U.S. military ordered the development of a new generation of heavy fighters. McDonnell Douglas, which was later annexed by Boeing, won the target of the U.S. military in 1969 and began to develop a new generation of heavy fighters.

According to the consistent naming habit of the US air force, this newly developed heavy fighter is named F-15, code name: Eagle. Therefore, this fighter is called F-15 ”Eagle” and nicknamed ”American Eagle”.

In July 1972, this two seat, two engine swept back wing jet supersonic all-weather high mobility air Tactical Fighter began its first flight. The first flight was very successful. The U.S. military was very satisfied with this aircraft. Therefore, in 1974, a year and a half later, the first mass-produced F15 was delivered to the U.S. military, starting its service journey of ruling the earth for 40 years.

The birth of F15 flustered the Soviets. Although the Soviets began to develop a new generation of heavy fighters in 1969, both R & D speed and production speed were far behind F15. After F15 had been in service in the U.S. military for three years, the Soviet Union's new generation of heavy fighters Su-27 began its maiden flight. It was not until 1979 that the Su-27 was finalized, and in 1985, the Su-27 was established At that time, the only heavy fighter that could compete with F15 began to load the air force of the former Soviet Union.

However, even if Su-27 served ten years later than F15, this pair of old enemies was the most eye-catching opponent in the world at the end of last century.

But unfortunately, the two famous heavy fighters have never been officially fought. At least in the official records, the two classic heavy fighters have never been recorded. As for whether the two fighters have been fought privately, it is unknown.

Up to now, F15 has been in service for more than 50 years. Although F22 and F35 have begun to be more and more equipped to the U.S. air force, F15 is still the largest number of main heavy fighters in the U.S. air force.

After all, the cost of F22 and F35 is too high. The single cost of F22 is as high as $150 million, and the single cost of F35 is no worse than this figure, but don't forget that F35 is a light fighter.

The performance of the new fighter is better, but the cost is expensive. Even wealthy Americans feel toothache, so now the main fighter of the US air force is still F15. After all, the capital to build an F22 is enough to build five F15. No matter how powerful the F22 is, it is impossible to pick five F15 in the air.

In contrast, the cost performance of F15 fighter is still very high.

Looking at the big guy with a length of nearly 20 meters and a wingspan of more than 13 meters in front of him, it's false to say that the shock is not true. Although the plane is only a little smaller than a civil airliner, and the weapon rack under the wing is not equipped with weapons, it's undeniable that the shape of the plane is really murderous, even if it just stops on the ground, Yang Jing can feel it This aircraft has great lethality.

This is a real heavy fighter!

In fact, the most fundamental feature to distinguish between heavy fighter and light fighter is the number of engines. Generally speaking, twin engine fighter is heavy fighter and single engine fighter is light fighter.

This is also the fundamental reason why the F35 ”lightning” is greater than F15 in terms of empty weight and maximum takeoff weight, but F35 can only be turned into a light fighter.

Another feature is the cockpit. Before the emergence of the fourth generation fighter, the two seater model was one of the symbols of the heavy fighter. Because the third generation light fighter is mainly used for a single air combat mission, most of them use a single seater. While the third generation heavy fighter or attack aircraft generally use a two seater, because the heavy fighter undertakes the dual combat tasks of air and ground at the same time, and the pilot is not only To complete flight control, it is also necessary to attack air and ground targets.

Two seater fighters can undertake more tasks because of one more person. Therefore, two seater fighters can perform some tasks that single seater fighters cannot perform or are difficult to perform alone, such as air command, electromagnetic suppression, guided weapon projection, etc.

Of course, with the increasing development of electronic technology, most of the fourth generation heavy fighters have changed their cockpit into a single seat, because developed electronic technology can replace a pilot. For example, the cockpits of heavy twin engine fighters such as F22 and MIG 1.44 are single seater.

The F15 in front of us is a typical twin engine two seater heavy fighter, with two seats in the cockpit arranged in front and back. In normal combat, if the aircraft is mainly operated in the front cabin, the pilot in the front cabin can concentrate on flight control and air-to-air tasks, and the rear seat is fully responsible for ground attack, so as to improve the efficiency of weapons and equipment and enhance the strike and survivability of the fighter.