iscover
MDC have fitted a canard installation to a standard F-15 in addition to variable incidence exhaust nozzles in an attempt to further improve manoeuvrability and STOL performance. Augmentation System (GAS/FCC) but these were easily corrected. turbine blades to the affected bay only
Mcdonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle
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The Ultimate MiG-Killer
It was conceived in TAC’s darkest hour, developed out of a revolutionary concept, designed without role compromise and created for its pilot above all. The F-15 Eagle has since matured and it is without doubt the world’s foremost air superiority fighter, having destroyed scores of opponents, from Foxbats to F-4s, in aerial combat without ever sustaining losses. It is the Ultimate MIG-Killer.
The F-15 Eagle was born as FX or Fighter eXperimental and just like its nominal predecessor, the F-111, it was another child of the USAF Tactical Air Command (TAC). The Vietnam war was a very rude awakening for TAC, which eventually bore the brunt of the sustained air war. TAC was originally equipped for tactical nuclear strike, with a fighter force built around the RepublicF-105 Thud (see Profile, June 1984) and future plans about the GD F-111. Both of these aircraft were primarily nuclear bombers, by design optimised for low-level penetration and precision strike:
Thoroughly steeped in the nuclear strike-oriented doctrine of the late fifties, TAC only very reluctantly accepted the F-4C Phantom into its inventory, as the US government re-oriented its strategy toward conventional rather than nuclear warfare. Vietnam provided the US with an opportunity to exercise its new approach toward lesser-than-global conflicts. TAC was very rapidly involved flying sorties both within South Vietnam and against the North. Rolling Thunder in the 1965-68 period and subsequently Linebacker in the 1970-73 period were both major air offensives directed against the North’s infrastructure and military facilities. Both offensives demonstrated that something was radically wrong with TAC’s inventory and aerial combat tactics.
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