Just How Fast Is The F-15EX Really?
While the F-15EX might not quite be able to reach Mach 3 as recently reported, its performance is nonetheless impressive.
BY
THOMAS NEWDICK
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PUBLISHED FEB 26, 2024 3:39 PM EST
THOMAS NEWDICK
A story published during the Singapore Airshow last week gained much attention, specifically the claim that the F-15EX Eagle II — the U.S. Air Force’s newest F-15 incarnation — can reach a speed of “nearly Mach 3.” If that sounded too good to be true, that’s because it was. But there’s no doubt that the Eagle II can hit a very impressive speed. The War Zone spoke to Boeing — and three different Eagle drivers — to find out more.
The original claim in the Aviation Week article last week quoted Boeing’s Rob Novotny, a former Air Force F-15 test pilot and now the Eagle II program manager. The assumption was that an F-15EX in ‘clean’ configuration — without any external pylons, munitions, or sensors — has a not-to-exceed speed of around Mach 2.9, equivalent to 2,225 mph at sea level.
This is approaching SR-71 Blackbird territory.
https://www.twz.com/air/just-how-fast-is-the-f-15ex-really