F-15EX missile shots examined to verify combat capability.

Air Force Operational Test and Evaluation Center Detachment 6 team members recently analyzed two of the first developmental and operational test missile shots for the F-15EX Eagle II.

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  The F-15EX Eagle II fires an AIM-120D missile during a Weapons System Evaluation Program mission near Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla, Jan. 25, 2022. This was the first live fire performed from the Air Force’s newest aircraft (Picture source: USAF)

Engineers and analysts from the AFOTEC Detachment 6 F-15 division traveled to Eglin Air Force Base and Tyndall AFB, both in Florida, to draw results from the AIM-120D and AIM-120C3 missile shots performed as part of the Weapons System Evaluation Program, or WSEP, conducted by Eglin’s 53rd Wing. These missile shots conducted Jan. 25, showed how the F-15 EX can be employed in theater and provided the context needed for Detachment 6 to verify its combat capability.

“One of the main takeaways from these live fire shots is the jet can clearly function as a long-range, standoff weapons system,” said Capt. Max Denbin, the team’s lead test engineer. “The F-15EX can shoot from a significantly increased range – farther than any other fighter in the U.S. Air Force arsenal – and provides the unique capability of holding 12 AMRAAMs or other large ordinance.”

This long-range, standoff capability is a fundamental pillar of ensuring U.S. power projection on a global scale.

“As adversaries continue to develop combat capability, the weapons systems with standoff capability, like the EX, are going to be critical in maintaining a tactical advantage,” Denbin said.

While the data gathered from the WSEP shots was useful, Detachment 6 analysts and engineers focused on more than just data collection. In the past two months, they have explored exactly how the F-15 EX performs as part of a force package with fifth-generation fighters.

“Analyzing data elements is always important,” said 1st Lt. Hagan Strader, lead analyst. “As an operational test organization, we’re focused on communicating exactly what pilots can expect from the EX when it’s time to fight. Even at the unclassified level, the new capabilities that the F-15 EX offers push it squarely into the future of combat. This is a platform that can work with penetrating assets in a network-enabled battlespace with the potential to cause significant problems for our adversaries.”

WSEP and other dedicated F-15E and F-15EX missions have also generated key insights on the performance of the Eagle Passive Active Warning Survivability System, or EPAWSS. EPAWSS provides both the F-15E and F-15EX with fully integrated radar warning as well as advanced jamming and countermeasure employment capability in highly contested environments, according to EPAWSS manufacturer BAE Systems. BAE Systems also highlights that EPAWSS provides pilots and battle managers with “maximum situational awareness by collecting and processing electromagnetic energy, instantaneously creating a comprehensive, 360-degree picture of the battlespace.”

“Participating in WSEP events shows us exactly how useful EPAWSS is,” Denbin said. “We’ve already seen that the F-15EX can serve as a standoff asset, but EPAWSS proves that the jet can also get into the middle of a fight and cause massive issues for our adversaries.”

AFOTEC Detachment 6 analysts have also examined EPAWSS data generated from F-15E participation in several F-35A Lighning II operational test missions.

“Whether in a more passive jamming role, or as a follow-on strike package, an F-15E or EX with EPAWSS causes detrimental impacts to opposing forces decision space,” Strader said. “This system gives aircrews many more options when fighting through contested airspace and enables other stealth assets in a force package – like an F-22 (Raptor), F-35, or other futuristic penetrating assets – to more efficiently neutralize threats.”

“The Air Force is currently planning to acquire 80 F-15EX aircraft. AFOTEC Detachment 6 is responsible for delivering the operational truth about the F-15EX, and the F-15 test team aims to do so at the speed of relevance,” said Lt. Col. Ken Juhl, F-15 test director and AFOTEC Detachment 6 deputy commander. “This program is unique in that we’re not acquiring aircraft on decades-long time scales – we’re seeing this program evolve weekly.”

To stay ahead of this rapid development tempo, the team has released a series of Operational Impact Reports, or OIRs, detailing precise findings from test events, which includes important implications for the fleet.

“In an agile acquisitions program, results from testing have to match the speed at which the program is moving otherwise they quickly become obsolete,” Juhl said.

While OIRs are designed to inform stakeholders of results from AFOTEC Detachment 6 testing, they also provoke inputs from all organizations that play a role in the F-15EX program.

“OIRs allow us to report results quickly so that all stakeholders in the acquisition process have plenty of time to address any concerns or changes that need to be made to the platform before the aircraft is fielded,” Denbin said.

Having confirmed the F-15EX long range, standoff capability as well as the effectiveness of EPAWSS in a heavily contested combat battlespace, the team is now shifting gears toward preparing for the second round of dedicated operational test missions for the aircraft.

“These missions will happen at Nellis AFB in fall 2022,” Juhl said. “AFOTEC Detachment 6 is confident these missions will continue to show exactly why EPAWSS and the EX are the kind of weapons systems we need to remain the most lethal Air Force in the world.”