The F-15 first flew in 1972, and fifty years later, the US Air Force is still flying F-15 Eagles in Europe. An upgraded model – the F-15EX Eagle II – is due to begin deploying in the next few months, potentially extending the lifespan of the F-15 until the 2050s, 90 years after the first F-15 took to the skies. Despite operating in every major conflict of the last forty years and scoring more than 100 kills, an F-15 has never been downed by enemy action. So what makes the F-15 Eagle so formidable? And are we justified in suggesting that the F-15 is the greatest fighter jet of all time?

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CREDITS
F-15 Primecuts, by Travis Burcham, via DVIDS-
Mig-25 Foxbat by Leonid Faerberg (transport-photo.com) GFDL 1.2 http://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licen... via Wikimedia Commons
Mig-25 Foxbat Dmitriy Pichugin (GFDL 1.2 http://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licen... or GFDL 1.2 http://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licen..., via Wikimedia Commons
James McDonnell, SDASM Archives, No restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons
F-15 Baz, Davidi Vardi Pikiwiki Israel, CC BY 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons
Operation Litani VIII / IDF Spokesperson's Unit
Alan Lebeda (GFDL 1.2 http://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licen... or GFDL 1.2 http://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licen..., via Wikimedia Commons
National Nuclear Security Administration / Nevada Site Office, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
A F-15 fighter jet piloted by then-Maj. Wilbert 'Doug' Pearson Jr. flies an ASM-135 anti-satellite missile on Sept. 13, 1985: Paul E. Reynolds/U.S. Air Force photo
Paul E. Reynolds, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Anti-satellite missile artwork: https://catalog.archives.gov/id/6361954, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Technicians with Explorer 1, Public domain, via Jet Propulsion Laboratory
F-15s of the Israeli Air Force, Public domain, via IDF Spokesperson's Unit

#history #aircraft #f15