Boeing F-15E Strike Eagle #9

by Arthur Eggers

Title

Boeing F-15E Strike Eagle #9

Artist

Arthur Eggers

Medium

Digital Art - Color Print

Description

The 333rd Fighter Squadron (333 FS), "Lancers" fly the McDonnell-Douglas (now Boeing) F-15E Strike Eagle. The 333 FS is part of the 4th Fighter Training Wing at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, North Carolina. It operates F-15E Strike Eagle aircraft conducting advanced fighter training. The 333 FS moved to Seymour Johnson AFB as an F-15 Strike Eagle training Squadron, 1 October 1994 in conjunction with the transfer of the F-15E FTU training at Luke AFB, Arizona. 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 F-15E Strike Eagles can be distinguished from other U.S. Eagle variants by darker camouflage and conformal fuel tanks mounted along the engine intakes. The F-15E saw action in response to Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in August 1990 for Operation Desert Shield. When Operation Desert Storm began on 17 January 1991; 24 F-15Es launched an attack upon five fixed Scud installations in western Iraq; missions against Scud sites continued through that night with a second strike consist of 21 F-15Es. At night, F-15Es flew hunter missions over western Iraq, searching for mobile SCUD launchers. Strike Eagles were able to destroy 18 Iraqi jets on the ground at Tallil Air Base using GBU-12s and CBU-87s. On 14 February 1991, an F-15E scored its only air-to-air kill: a Mil Mi-24 helicopter. In late 2002, during tension over suspected Iraqi possession of weapons of mass destruction, the 4th Fighter Wing at Seymour Johnson AFB was ordered to maintain at least one squadron ready to deploy to the Persian Gulf. While some of the F-15C/Ds have been replaced by the F-22 Raptor, there is no slated replacement for the F-15E in its primary "deep strike" mission profile. The Strike Eagle is a more recent variant of the F-15, and has a sturdier airframe rated for twice the lifetime of earlier variants. The F-15Es are expected to remain in service past 2025.

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April 16th, 2013

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