Three generations of the F-15 family gathered at Nellis Air Force Base to conduct F-15EX combat test missions

From October 18 to 25, 2021, the F-15EX Eagle II fighter is conducting its first operational test mission at Nellis Air Force Base along with the F-15C and F-15E fighters.

The F-15 family portrait, from recent to far F-15C, F-15E, F-15EX. The US Air Force purchased the F-15EX mainly to replace the F-15C/D, and then to replace the F-15E depending on the situation.

“We’ve never done full-scale, large-scale operational testing on the F-15EX because it’s only been in the hands of the Air Force for six months,” said Lt. Col. Kenneth Juhl, an F-15 tester at the U.S. Air Force Operational Test and Evaluation Center. “The reason we’ve moved so quickly in operational testing is definitely because of the Air Force chief of staff’s ‘change faster or fail’ mentality.”

The U.S. Air Force currently has two F-15EX fighters. The Air Force accepted their delivery at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida in March and April 2021. The platform is expected to join the F-35 Lightning II fighter, F-16 Fighting Falcon and A-10 Thunderbolt II and the sixth-generation fighter program as part of the "four plus one" concept aimed at streamlining the fleet.

On April 7, 2021, the Air Force's newest fighter jet, the F-15EX Eagle II, was unveiled and christened at a ceremony at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida.

The US Air Force will continue to use the "four plus one" until 2030. After 2030, the A-10 will be retired, and the F-16 may be used until 2070... Of course, it is the F-16V (Block 70/72) model. The F-22 is not on this list at all. The sixth-generation aircraft has replaced the F-22 as the "advanced air superiority fighter". It is generally believed that the F-22 will be retired when its service life is exhausted. It will also be around 2030.

At Nellis AFB, the Air Force Operational Test and Evaluation Center (AFOTEC) Detachment 6 is leading initial operational test and evaluation of the F-15EX along with personnel from Eglin and Nellis AFBs, the Oregon and Florida National Guards, and contractors.

The aircraft has undergone a series of development tests to ensure it meets the required manufacturing specifications and safety standards. It has also flown combat missions as part of the Northern Edge exercise in Alaska.

F-15EX in the "Northern Edge" exercise

“The primary focus here is to provide that initial push for operational test and evaluation to really evaluate the platform from an end-to-end perspective by adding the robust threat environment that we have at Nellis AFB. That way, when we write the initial test report, we have an accurate understanding of what the operational Air Force and National Guard will be able to do when the platform initially enters service,” said Colton Myers, F-15EX test program manager for the Joint Test Force, Operational Flight Program.

Maj. Kevin Hand, an F-15EX experimental and operational test pilot at the Air National Guard-Air Force Reserve Test Center, is one of the few pilots who has flown multiple defensive and offensive counterattack missions across the day and night at Nellis Air Force Base. "The most important thing we have to do is show the difference between the F-15EX and the F-15C," said Hand.

The biggest difference between the F-15C and the F-15E and F-15EX is that it is a single-seat aircraft. Currently, single-seat heavy aircraft are not very popular. China, the United States and Russia have all chosen two-seat multi-purpose heavy aircraft. In addition, the aircraft are very old. The United States currently plans to purchase at least 144 F-15EX jet fighters to replace F-15C fighters.

"One big improvement on the F-15EX is that it has a digital flight control system, so it's a fly-by-wire aircraft, whereas the traditional F-15C model was a standard hydro-mechanical aircraft that was completely controlled by the pilot, and now it's a computer-controlled aircraft," he said.

In addition to operational testing of the aircraft, the two-week event also included testing of the aircraft's Hawk Active Passive Warning Survivability System (EPAWSS).

“The Eagle Active Passive Warning Survivability System (EPAWSS) is the next generation of advanced electronic attack and electronic protection system that is currently being tested and developed on the F-15EX and F-15E Strike Eagle and is expected to be operational in the near future,” Hand said. “It will give us the ability to essentially go into some situations with more advanced threats or airspace denial where we can now self-protect and self-jam.”

Schematic diagram of the Eagle Active Passive Warning Survivability System (EPAWSS) entering high-risk airspace

Juhl said Nellis AFB is the best place to conduct operational testing because it provides the best air-to-air and surface-to-air training ranges and provides the highest fidelity data on the back end to be able to know if the system works.

“Often we go out there as pilots and we think the airplane is working fine, but behind the scenes we dig into some of the instruments and it’s nothing like we remembered,” he said. “Every once in a while we need the instrument operators to help us understand what’s really going on.

Hand added: "The Nellis AFB range complex provides the ability to not only get instant feedback on how the aircraft is performing, but also to pull up the data so that it can be analyzed in great detail to ensure that this is what is happening, or even better, to be able to find out what problems we have and use that data to find a fix and then implement it as quickly as possible." Myers said that after the testing at Nellis AFB, the aircraft will return to Eglin AFB for more development testing.

“We have been conducting developmental testing in the months leading up to this event, which is more operationally focused,” he said. “We will return to developmental testing throughout the remainder of this year and into next year as we continue to experiment with additional capabilities of the platform, including additional weapon stations and additional operational flight program upgrades.” After that, Juhl expects the F-15EX to eventually take part in exercises like Red Flag-Nellis.

“The more situations we put this aircraft in, the better information we get,” Juhl said. “This integration could be key for the Air Force, being able to have multiple different types of fighters working together as a more capable force.”