I was Reading Tom Clancys book Fighter Wing, when i came across a table with the roles of teh USAF’s fighters. The F-15E can perform AA and AG missions but it says only the F-16 performs Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses (SEAD) or Wild Weasel missions. Is there a specific reason why the F-15 does not perform these roles??
Thanks
I would think that the F-16’s are specifically equiped and trained for that role. Someone else that is intimately familiar with the Falcons could better inform you, though;-) Calvin
Im not sure I can completely answer your question…But when the Strike Eagle was initially developed, there were vague and immature plans to add extra wing pylons and soft ward/hard ware upgrade to allow the F-15E to carry AGM-88 HARMs. This was never done beyond the conceptual stage.
In the late 1980’s, the USAF was looking to replace the F-4G. It would be deemed too costly to try to incorporate all the necessary podding and software into a Strike Eagle program that was already facing major budgetary issues.The USAF would not wait for a protracted development time to replace the aging F-4G. As it turned out, the USAF only got about 230 F-15E instead of the 390 it initially planned for!
Also in 1990, the USAF was introducing the F-16C Block 50/52, and a few bright and innovative USAF officers came up with the notion of “Weasle in a Can”- basically a simplified pod system that would give the F-16C some of the capabilities of the F-4G’s APR-47 emitter. By 1991, General Dynamics and Texas Instruments were awared a contract to make it happen. In essence, the F-16CJ was the simpler and quicker solution to the USAF’s Follow-On Wild Weasel (FOWW) program in 1989. Hope this helps. Frank
I saw on the discovery channel that the F-15 doesn´t preform well at low altitudes, but the F-16 does. Can this have something to do with it!?
That might, have something to do with it, but I doubt it. F-15E is supposed to have a low-level mission anyway (why else would it need to carry a Terrain Following LANTRIN?)
There could be something in the numbers. There are more F-16s than F-15s in the inventory. Those existing F-15Es are already heavily tasked during wartime so if there’s a mission the F-16 can perform, then the F-16 will do it…