Israel upgrading F-15s for long-distance strikes

Posted by Clyde Middleton on Jun 28 2009 Filed under Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

F-15 Eagle “Commando” with 6 Syrian kill markings

Breakfast in Tehran? The Israeli Air Force is upgrading its F-15s and F-15Is to better equip them to make bombing runs at long distances.

Why? Because Israel deals from strength:

“The reelection of Iran’s president, his grave utterances regarding his will to harm the state of Israel and Iran’s continual effort to achieve unconventional weapons require us to maintain an army that is coiled and ready to spring into action, and an Air Force that is skilled and sharp as a razor, that will stand up to any enemy and remove any threat from our citizens and residents,“ IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi said Thursday in an IAF ceremony for new pilots at the Hatzerim Air Force Base.

Here’s the details:

According to IDF journal BaMachaneh, the F-15I model is currently being fitted with two new systems – one called “Barad Pelada” (“Steel Hail”), and another named “Lightning.”

Barad Pelada is an advanced Israeli armament that operates like a smart bomb. “The system is unique in that it is able to plan the bombing in an accurate way by identifying the target from above,” a knowledgeable source in the IAF explained. “After the identification, the system carries out guidance to the target and only then is impact made.”

The Inbar system [existing equipment] is capable of providing an operational solution in some ranges, but other attack scenarios require advanced systems like the Lightning, IAF sources said. “The need for the new system led to an accelerated procedure of development of advanced means,” a source in the IAF’s Weapons Department explained. “Once the testing at the Flight Experiment Center is finished, we will complete the system’s integration in the aircraft.”

The specs on IAF McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle (Baz):

Type: single seat air superiority and fighter with secondary attack role.
Powerplant: 2 * Pratt & Whitney F100-PW-100 afterburning turbofan engines.
Performance: max speed – Mach 2.5+, service ceiling – 60,000ft, max range – 5745km.
Weights: empty – 12973kg, max takeoff – 30844kg.
Dimensions: length – 19.43m, span 13.05m, height – 5.63m.
Armament: One M61A1 20mm six barrel cannon, with up to 4 AIM-7 Sparrow and 4 AIM-9 Sidewinder / Python 3/4 air-to-air missiles, or 8 AMRAAMs. Five weapon stations for up to 10705kg of bombs, rockets and air-to-surface missiles.

The spec on McDonnell Douglas F-15I Eagle (Ra’am):

Type: two-seat dual-role attack/air superiority fighter.
Powerplant: two Pratt & Whitney F100-PW-229 afterburning turbofan engines.
Performance: max speed – Mach 2.5 above 36,000ft, service ceiling – 60,000ft, max unrefuelled range – 5745km.
Weights: empty – 14,379kg, max takeoff – 36741kg.
Dimensions: span – 13.05m, length – 19.43m, height – 5.63m.
Armament: one M61A1 Vulcan 20mm six barrel cannon in starboard wing root. single centerline store mountings and two underwing pylons for fuel tanks, AIM-7, AIM-9 or AIM-120. 6 bomb racks on each conformal fuel tank, allowig carriage of 36 Rockeye cluster bombs or six AGM-65 Mavericks.

Give ‘em hell, folks.

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