Eagles flown by Israel's air force were the first to face a true adversary in the air. They downed more than 50 Syrian fighters with no losses of their own. In service with the U. To meet the U. It made its first flight from St. Louis in December The Strike Eagle can carry 23, pounds of air-to-ground and air-to-air weapons and is equipped with an advanced navigation and an infrared targeting system, protecting the Strike Eagle from enemy defenses.
This allows the Strike Eagle to fly at a low altitude while maintaining a high-speed, even during bad weather or at night. The F has been produced in single-seat A model and two-seat B versions. The two-seat FE Strike Eagle version is a dual-role fighter that can engage both ground and air targets.
The Soviet roster now included the new Mig, which boasted a top speed of Mach 2. Concerns were mounting that the U. The design utilized fixed wings and a wide fuselage that could serve as a lifting surface in itself. Almost immediately, production of jets for testing and further development began. The first prototypes would take to the sky just three years later in Those early Fs looked remarkably like the ones still in service today with capabilities that would make many other fourth-generation fighters think twice about engaging in an aerial scrap.
Importantly, this radar system was also the first to use a programmable system processor that would allow for some updates and improvements without having to change out hardware. That approach has since become an integral facet of the F, which receives regular software updates to improve performance.
After less than a year of testing, the F was put into serial production, first joining the roster for the U. Air Force, as well as allied nations like Israel and Japan. The list of fighters shot down by Fs range from a spectrum of Mig iterations, Mirage F-1s, one transport plane, and of course, one Iraqi attack helicopter.
In order to achieve this incredible record, the F saw continuous upgrades, with the FC incorporating a newer and even more capable radar apparatus and new Pratt and Whitney engines. Some were even equipped with a radar-fed Joint Helmet Mounted Cuing System that allowed pilots to acquire targets even faster. By , the fighter had proven so capable that the decision was eventually made to field another new variant of the platform, the aforementioned FE Strike Eagle.
In all, the Strike Eagle can carry up to 24, pounds of ordnance into the fight. Combined with conformal fuel tanks added to give the FE even greater range, the F has enough firepower and fuel to make for an extremely effective close-air-support fighter plane.
Christopher M. I walk into a squadron now, and it is second nature for these lieutenants to know that CAS [Close Air Support] is on the menu of things they might be asked to do. By , the U. Much like the dog-fighting conundrum faced by the Air Force that first gave birth to the F, the early 90s saw Air Force officials trying to predict the challenges of the years ahead in their requests for new fighter proposals, highlighting the need for a plane that could avoid detection as air defense systems continued to mature.
Lockheed Martin, who had revolutionized bomber strategy with its F Nighthawk the decade prior, was selected to begin development of a new fighter that was unlike anything ever seen before in warfare. It was to be fast and maneuverable like the F, but capable of avoiding detection like the F The technologically superior jet would also continue the dogfighting spirit of the F It was called the F Raptor.
Low wing-loading the ratio of aircraft weight to its wing area is a vital factor in maneuverability and, combined with the high thrust-to-weight ratio, enables the aircraft to turn tightly without losing airspeed. A multimission avionics system sets the F apart from other fighter aircraft. It includes a head-up display, advanced radar, inertial navigation system, flight instruments, ultrahigh frequency communications, tactical navigation system and instrument landing system.
It also has an internally mounted, tactical electronic-warfare system, "identification friend or foe" system, electronic countermeasures set and a central digital computer.
The pilot's head-up display projects on the windscreen all essential flight information gathered by the integrated avionics system.
This display, visible in any light condition, provides information necessary to track and destroy an enemy aircraft without having to look down at cockpit instruments. The F's versatile pulse-Doppler radar system can look up at high-flying targets and down at low-flying targets without being confused by ground clutter.
It can detect and track aircraft and small high-speed targets at distances beyond visual range down to close range, and at altitudes down to treetop level. The radar feeds target information into the central computer for effective weapons delivery.
For close-in dogfights, the radar automatically acquires enemy aircraft, and this information is projected on the head-up display. The F's electronic warfare system provides both threat warning and automatic countermeasures against selected threats. A variety of air-to-air weaponry can be carried by the F An automated weapon system enables the pilot to perform aerial combat safely and effectively, using the head-up display and the avionics and weapons controls located on the engine throttles or control stick.
When the pilot changes from one weapon system to another, visual guidance for the required weapon automatically appears on the head-up display. The FE is a two-seat, dual-role, totally integrated fighter for all-weather, air-to-air and deep interdiction missions.
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