The Amazing Saga Of How Israel Turned Its F-15s Into Multi-Role Bombers
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The Amazing Saga Of How Israel Turned Its F-15s Into Multi-Role Bombers
When the F-15 was created, it was created to be a pure air-to-air fighter, with the philosophy of “not a pound for air-to-ground” guiding designers. So how did Israel end up turning their F-15s into deadly long-range multi-role strike aircraft well before the F-15E Strike Eagle became a reality? Here’s how.
In Need Of A Game Changing Fighter
Israel’s love affair with the F-15 began out of the need to procure a fighter that could trump the increasingly complex fighters that surrounding Arab states were amassing from Russian and French sources. Both the F-14 Tomcat and the F-15 Eagle were tested by Israel Air Force pilots in the US during the mid 1970s, with the Eagle being chosen hands down over the Tomcat. In Hebrew, they call it the “Baz.”
Israel received the first of its initial order of two single seat F-15As and two, two seat F-15Bs in 1976 under the Peace Fox foreign military sales program. These aircraft were largely used as test, training and evaluation planes so that the Israeli Air Force could prepare for its full order to arrive. Another 19 F-15As and two F-15Bs were delivered by 1978, entering active service with 133 Squadron at Tel Nof airbase.
The Amazing Saga Of How Israel Turned Its F-15s Into Multi-Role Bombers
The Baz represented a quantum leap in capability for the IAF, with the service having flown the F-4, A-4 and Mirage series prior to it, and was far and away the most capable fighter aircraft in the region during the 1970s. Well, at least aside from Iran’s then growing F-14A fleet.
The Baz was truly a national source of pride in Israel at the time of its arrival and remains so to this day, with only the IAF’s very best pilots selected to fly it. Obviously the aircraft’s strict air-to-air focus helped with this image as the jet was viewed as a guardian of Israel, a weapon that would ensure the country’s ability to exist through overwhelming air superiority capability.
Israeli F-15A and Bs were quick to live up to their hype, shooting down five Syrian MiG-21s over Lebanese skies on June 27th, 1979. More Syrian kills followed that September. Then, on February 13th, 1981, the Baz shot down the very aircraft that spurred the F-15’s original development in the late 1960s, a high and fast flying MiG-25 Foxbot, also of Syrian origin.
Israeli F-15s went on to support Operation Opera, the IAF’s daring raid on Iraq’s nuclear reactor. Six F-15s would provide counter-air escort the eight newly received F-16s that would do the bombing. The high-risk mission was a massive success.
The Baz fleet would then go on to score dozens of kills against Syrian MiGs during the Lebanon War of 1982. IAF Brig. Gen. Moshe Marom-Melnik explained just how powerful the Baz was even against waves of Syrian MiGs:
“We kept the Syrians from flying in Lebanon, and did it in the best possible fashion. Every flight of Syrian planes that tried to cross the lines and attack our forces in Lebanon was shot down. Sometimes a single plane out of the flight escaped and told the others the story of what had happened. We had a field day, basically, shooting down practically everything that flew. The MiG-21 and MiG-23, which formed the backbone of the Syrian air force, were crushed. As far as our squadron was concerned, the war was more like a shooting range.”
The Amazing Saga Of How Israel Turned Its F-15s Into Multi-Role Bombers
During the early 1980s, the IAF received the improved F-15C/D Baz. 18 F-15Cs and 8 F-15Ds were delivered during the 1982-1983 timeframe. These new jets were more capable than their predecessors in almost every respect, although their airframe remained visually nearly identical to the older A/B models. These F-15C/Ds were in no way replacements for the IAF’s older A/B models, instead they were meant to augment and grow Israel’s cherished and battle proven Baz force and would work alongside the equally as new and growing fleet of F-16A/Bs.
Operation Wooden Leg- The Multi-Role Eagle Is Born
The very idea of what the Baz/Eagle is, and how it could be used in combat, was totally changed on October 1st, 1985 when six F-15Ds and two F-15Cs flew over 1200 miles from their Israeli bases across the Mediterranean Sea to strike the PLO’s headquarters located on the coast of Tunis, Tunisia. This complex and risky strike, which was dubbed Operation Wooden Leg, was in retaliation for the supposed murder of three innocent Israelis yachting off of Cyprus. The PLO claimed they were Israeli spies.
At the time, this was the longest-range IAF airstrike ever, which took advantage of the Eagle’s great endurance, especially the new C/D models which carried approximately 2,000lbs of additional internal fuel than their predecessors. It was also made possible by IAF’s new aerial refueling capabilities, with two KC-707s being used as tankers and command posts for the mission. The tankers were procured in 1983 and the idea to give the Baz some sort of precision guided strike capability began around that same time. By 1985, crews were trained and the gear was ready for just this type of operation.
Still, training for something and executing it in reality are two entirely different things.
The Amazing Saga Of How Israel Turned Its F-15s Into Multi-Role Bombers
In order for the mission to succeed, the flight had to remain undetected by North African countries, as well as Syrian and even U.S. Naval vessel’s radars. As a result, the route was far from direct. An Israeli vessel with a helicopter aboard was pre-positioned off of Malta should any of the crews have to eject. Also, two spare F-15s, in addition to the eight primary attacker F-15s, would make it to the first refueling point before turning back. This was a hedge against any mechanical failures with the primary attack force.
Although the distances involved in the strike were groundbreaking, the fact that the F-15 would prove its ability to be adapted for the ground attack role in actual combat was monumental. The F-15A-D was actually built with a very austere ground attack capability based around gravity bombing with basic Mk82, 83 and 84 general purpose bombs. This largely dormant capability has never been exercised by any other operator but the IAF. Still, having the Baz lob dumb bombs at targets could not provide enough precision for such a high-value operation as Wooden Leg, which was aimed at telling the PLO, and the world, that Israel could retaliate against its enemies anywhere in the world via air power, with devastating results.
With this goal in mind, the six F-15Ds used in the strike were equipped with the ability to launch and guide a pair of 2,000lb GBU-15 optically guided glide bombs, with the backseaters controlling the massive weapons via a man-in-the-loop, two way data-link pod mounted on the Eagle’s centerline station.
The Amazing Saga Of How Israel Turned Its F-15s Into Multi-Role Bombers
The GBU-15 has a range of about 24 miles when launched from 40,000 feet, but in practice, a launch from 25,000 feet, with a range of about 12-15 miles is more common. The other two aircraft used on the raid were F-15Cs, which would be the last aircraft on target. They carried six 500lb Mk82s general purpose bombs each on a multiple ejector bomb racks attached to the Baz’s centerline station. In addition to air-to-ground weaponry, the Eagles flew with AIM-7 Sparrows and their 20mm cannon magazines topped off with 940 rounds (510 rounds in the D model), just in case an aerial threat materialized.
The jets, which had all their identifying marks stripped off before the mission, made it to their targets undetected. As the first wave of three Bazs approached the coastline they launched their weapons and obtained perfect results, with the second trio launching theirs GBU-15s shortly after. The flight lead then joined with the final pair of F-15Cs after the first 5 jets turned back towards the east, their wing stations now empty. He then push into the target area with the last two F-15Cs for their bomb runs, working as a spotter and taking photos of the damage for later assessment.
The Amazing Saga Of How Israel Turned Its F-15s Into Multi-Role Bombers
Almost every weapon hit their intended target, obliterating the PLO headquarters totally. For the IAF, the mission was a massive success, obliterating the briefed targets and killing large amounts of PLO personnel (IAF claimed around 60 PLO personnel were killed, while others claimed the death rate to be in the hundreds). The attacks resulted in broad international condemnation, even from the US, although for the Israelis the message they wanted to send to the world could not have been clearer. On top of this, they realized that their F-15 Baz fleet, which gained Israel air supremacy once and for all over the region in years prior, could become so much more, it could be a deterrent force aimed at enemies far from Israel’s borders.
Strike Eagles And FAST Packs
Although details of Israel’s startlingly long-ranged attack were kept out of the public eye following the mission, US intelligence services were surely aware of exactly how the mission was executed after the fact. The use of lightly modified F-15C/D Bazs undoubtedly gave further heft to the then finally blossoming F-15E Strike Eagle program, which had been envisioned in different configurations by McDonnell Douglas and the USAF as far back as the mid 1970s.
The F-15E’s official first flight, after the demonstrator beat out the F-16XL during a fly-off competition, would occur just a year after Operation Wooden Leg, with its introduction into USAF service occurring in 1988, although without many of its most advanced features available.
One of the features that the F-15E would be built with was conformal fuel tanks, otherwise known as “FAST Packs,” as in Fuel And Sensor Tactical Packs. These flank hugging 849 gallon tanks were not new to the F-15 with the advent of the Strike Eagle, in fact they were envisioned as an option for the F-15C/D and even retrofittable to the A and B models early on, with the first test flight being flown with them attached to an Eagle in the mid 1970s. They were envisioned to carry everything from fuel to cargo, although the majority of these concepts never made it to fruition.
The Amazing Saga Of How Israel Turned Its F-15s Into Multi-Role Bombers
USAF Eagles only took limited advantage of FAST packs, with some jets deployed to Iceland or stationed in Alaska using them sporadically for the long-range air sovereignty role. The IAF on the other hand saw the great utility in these conformal fuel tanks, not just to enhance range, but to make their air superiority focused Bazs true multi-role heavy fighters.
Like those found on the F-15E, F-15 Baz’s conformal tanks could be fitted with hardpoints for air-to-air missiles or for bombs. This allows for the Baz to fly missions with a pair of underwing tanks and even a centerline tank while still being able execute air-to-ground missions. Today, many Bazs can be seen fitted with indigenously developed FAST Packs built by IAI, but the fact is these were flying on Bazs many decades ago.
By many accounts, they we integral in giving the aircraft flown on Operation Wooden Leg enough range to make the mission possible, as their two wing stations were filled with one GBU-15 each, and their centerline station was fitted with the data-link pod needed to control these weapons. As a result, there was no room for external tanks aside from the FAST packs.
The IAF’s love affair with conformal fuel tanks continues on today, not just on the remaining Baz fleet, but also on every fighter aircraft ordered since the early 1990s. Additionally, fuel is not the only thing they carry. Sensors and emitters can also be fitted within them, giving the Baz a whole range of secondary mounting options beyond just its stock hardpoints.
The Amazing Saga Of How Israel Turned Its F-15s Into Multi-Role Bombers
Upgrades And Final Baz Orders
MUCH MORE
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