Boeing Reveals Advanced F-15 Eagles

Story and Photos by Mike Colaner

Boeing Defense shocked the world of aviation with an unexpected announcement on their social media platform on May 24th when they posted, “Our F-15 demo team is back and better than ever with two jets. “

Boeing announced, “For the first time before the public, Boeing Defense will present the Advanced F-15 at the Spirit of St Louis Airshow & STEM Expo on June 8-9, 2024.”

The Spirit of St Louis Airshow was stacked with demo teams and one-of-a-kind aircraft. In addition to the headlining Blue Angels, the sold-out show featured multiple Air Force and Navy demo teams, including the E/A-18G Growler, F-22 Raptor, and F-35A Lightning II.

Additionally, the crowds enjoyed flying and static displays of various cargo, experimental, reconnaissance, special ops, surveillance, tactical, and warbird aircraft.

Then, there was Boeing with the two F-15 Advanced Eagles. In a first-of-its-kind demonstration, Boeing configured two Advanced Eagles of the Qatar Emiri Air Force for ‘clean’ and ‘dirty’ flight profiles.

Boeing Experimental Test Pilot Jason ‘Mongoose’ Dotter and flight test Weapons System Operator (WSO) Kevin ‘Claw’ Tinsley demonstrated the Advanced Eagles maximum performance of the ‘clean’ F-15QA demo in tail number 17-0040.

Boeing Chief Pilot Matt “Phat” Giese and flight test Weapons System Operator (WSO) Mike “Houdini” Quintini flew a combat loadout of twelve AMRAAMs in the ‘dirty’ F-15QA demo in tail number 17-039A. This second demo showcased the Advanced Eagles payload while maintaining its performance.

The Advanced Eagle demonstration was designed to directly rival a fifth-generation aircraft and “The Most Feared Aircraft in the World,” the F-22 Raptor. It is unlike any F-15 variant demonstration that has preceded it. Showing no fear, Boeing brought the Advanced Eagle to an airshow where all the fifth-generation fighters could be compared side-by-side.

From the first howl of the General Electric F110-GE-129E engine at start-up to the angle of attack (AoA) maneuverability, minimum radius turns, Immelmann turns, half Cuban eights, tail slide, and Viking takeoff, the F-15QA was unimaginable to anyone who has seen a F-15 demo.

On takeoff, the Boeing test pilots light the afterburners of the F110-GE-129E engines, initiating the ‘Viking takeoff.’ The F-15QA utilized less than 2,000 feet of runway to get airborne before pulling the Advanced Eagle into a steep, near-vertical climb without sacrificing power or speed. This maneuver displayed Advanced Eagle’s new ability to achieve altitude rapidly using extremely high climb-out angles.

This demo was unlike any the public has ever seen. It felt like the 50,000 in attendance were no longer in St. Louis, Missouri, but watching in-flight testing at Edwards Air Force Base.

Each demonstration lasted under nine minutes, but the memories of those who witnessed them will last a lifetime.

I turned to Robert “Blend’r” Novotny, the Executive Director of F-15 Business Development within the Air Dominance Division of Boeing Defense, Space & Security, to better understand the Advanced Eagle’s performance capabilities. Director Novotny is a retired United States Air Force Brigadier General with nearly 3,000 flight hours (540 combat flight hours), primarily in the F-15C/D/E.

“We are all airshow lovers, and we love the Raptor demo,” Director Novotny told me.

Last summer, we sat down with our team of Boeing test pilots and our flight test Weapons System Operators (WSO) and discussed flying an F-15 Advanced Eagle demo in 2024.

We asked ourselves, “What is this platform’s strength?” The answer is power and the digital flight control system.

We all agreed that the F-22 Raptor puts on an amazing display and stays right in your face, and we wanted to do that.

All of our demo guys come from slightly different backgrounds. They all flew F-15s in some form or fashion. Our Chief test pilot ‘Phat’ was an F-22 test pilot and the Raptor subject matter expert and evaluator at Edwards Air Force Base. Additionally, our WSOs have flown the backseat of the E/A -18G Growler.

The team knew we could do this with the new fly-by-wire controls and the F110-GE-129 engines. Of course, we can’t do all of it. The F-22 has thrust vectoring and slightly better post-stall maneuverability that we don’t have. We believed we could deliver something like the Raptor demo, and the guys crafted this super tight raw power demo.

However, we wanted our demo to be something other than performing a 0.9-mach high-speed pass. Those high-speed passes require aircraft such as the F-35 to leave the show box and return to perform a high-speed pass.

We archetyped the demo’s look by mapping it on a whiteboard with one goal: to showcase the Advanced Eagle’s raw power and maneuverability while keeping the demo tight, close to the ground, and within the display box for the entire demo.

At the Boeing St. Louis Campus, we have the world’s most advanced simulator (Manned Flight Hardware Simulator). After we modeled it, we had to prove we could do it in the sim. Then, we had to go to the company and assure them that we could not only do it but also persuade them to let us do it.

Boeing Defense partnered with the Qatari Emiri Air Force to solve this issue. The Qatari Emiri Air Force permitted the Boeing flight test team to fly two new F-15QA Advanced Eagles named the ‘Ababil’ at the Dubai, St. Louis Airshow, Farnborough, and RIAT airshows.

With all the pieces in place, it was time to roll it out.

The Dubai Airshow in November 2023 featured a single ‘clean’ Advanced Eagle, which demonstrated the platform’s high angle of attack (AoA) capability and maneuverability.

Blend’r stated, “The ‘clean’ demo took off and immediately did a square loop and a few slow-speed raw power Immelmanns; it also performed a double Immelmann that the F-35 and F-16 can’t do. Then it did the high alpha move, stuck it, and held it. Then they pulled it into the vertical and did a tail slide. It doesn’t fall off, which is nice, and then it powers out, which is what we were going for. The demo was right in your face; it never left.”

When we got home, we asked ourselves if we could do a second demo showcasing the payload capability’s power and maneuverability. That is when ‘Phat’ and the guys said yes. We can hang twelve CATMS (captive air training munitions) weighing approximately 5,000 pounds on the jet and go out and do a ‘dirty’ demo. By size and weight, CATMS represents an air-to-air missile without a warhead or rocket motor.

Other than the CATMS, both aircraft were prepared in the same manner. They have had the conformal fuel tanks (CFT) removed and carry 10,000 pounds of fuel internally.

Most of the maneuvers performed by the ‘clean’ and ‘dirty’ demos are close; they differ with speed and altitude. We’re carrying a little extra weight with the’ dirty’ configuration and wanted a safety cushion.

You can’t tell to the untrained eye, but there are a few maneuvers where the ‘dirty’ demo needs more speed. The bottom line is that the ‘dirty’ demo goes out, does the same high alpha stick in the lap maneuver, hangs there when it comes down show center and climbs out on raw power and the digital flight controls.

However, the ‘clean’ and ‘dirty’ demos are not the same. They are slightly different, and the reality is that the demo has to be flexible enough. For example, the airspace at St Louis and Farnborough is wildly different. The team had to curtail and move the show around, kick out some things, and add different moves because the UK’s airspace is much more constrictive than the US. Each demo is shaped for the airspace in which they are flying.

We incorporated a high-speed belly pass on the ‘dirty’ demo to show all the photographers; check this out. We have 12 AMRAAMS and are doing demos like the F-16, F-35, and the F-22, all of which are clean with nothing on them.

St Louis is the first place Boeing did the ‘clean’ and ‘dirty’ demos in front of a crowd, and the Advanced Eagle stole the show from the outstanding lineup.

The year was capped off at the Royal International Air Tattoo 2024 (RIAT), where the Boeing Advanced Eagle Demonstration Team was awarded the ‘As The Crow Flies’ Trophy for Best Flying Display 2024.

My sincerest thanks to Sarah Reed, Senior Communications & Branding Specialist at the Boeing Company, and Robert “Blend’r” Novotny, the Executive Director of F-15 Business Development within the Air Dominance Division of Boeing Defense, Space & Security, for their assistance in this article.