McDonnell Douglas F-15E Strike Eagle

what is it?

The McDonnell Douglas (now Boeing) F-15E Strike Eagle is an American all-weather multirole strike fighter derived from the McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle. Intended for the Dual-Role Fighter (DRF) program (initially called Enhanced Tactical Fighter), the F-15E was designed in the 1980s for long-range, high-speed interdiction without relying on escort or electronic-warfare aircraft. United States Air Force (USAF) F-15E Strike Eagles can be generally distinguished from other US Eagle variants by darker aircraft camouflage, conformal fuel tanks (CFTs) and LANTIRN pods mounted behind the engine intake ramps (although CFTs can also be mounted on earlier F-15 variants) and a tandem-seat cockpit.

🔎How to recognise it: 2 jet engines · 13.1 m wingspan

base stats

• size 36.7 tmax take-off weight
• built 470made in total

Bars compare against all aircraft: 3,500 km/h, 20,000 km, 850 seats; size and number built on a log scale up to 640 t (An-225) and 45,000 built (Cessna 172).

fun facts

• 🎂First flew 40 years ago, in 1986.
• 🚗Wingspan of 13.1 m: about 3 cars parked nose to tail.
• 🐘Fully loaded it can weigh as much as 6 African elephants (~6 t each).
• 🏔️Can fly 2.1× higher than Mount Everest (8,849 m).

jet: Gas turbine pushing air out the back (turbofan or turbojet): fast and high-flying.

spec sheet

first flight

1986-12-11

introduced

1988

status

still flying

number built

470

role

multirole strike fighter

origin

🇺🇸 United States

makers

McDonnell Douglas, Boeing, Boeing Defense, Space & Security

engines

2× Pratt & Whitney F100-PW-220 / Pratt & Whitney F100

crew

2

length

19.5 m

wingspan

13.1 m

height

5.6 m

max take-off weight

36.7 t

top speed

—

range

—

ceiling

18,288 m

Specs are for the version in the Wikipedia article's specification section. Blank means the sources don't say.

family