Fate of the F-15?

Recently, I’ve been thinkin…

Sukhoi recently unveiled their Su-35BM which is being billed as the ultimate flanker. And Mikoyan has their Mig-35. But what about the west’s legacy F-15? The F-14 has suffered the guillotine and the FA-18 lives on in the Super Hornet’s models. And the Block 60 F-16s are pretty good, probably competitive with the Mig-35. But is there any hope for the older F-15s? The USAF want to replace them outright with F-22s, which we all know is not gonna happen on a one-to-one basis.

There have been advanced F-15E models like in Singapore, but nothing like what could be done. Will we ever see a heavy upgrade to the F-15 model akin to the Su-35BM? There’s minor upgrades, like ASEA for the Alaskan F-15Cs and Singapore’s Es, but there is the airframe issues for the C and D models, and the F-15Es are more geared for A2G work. Theres the talk of advanced F-15 models like the MANX and F-15F, but do you think they will ever see fruition? A super-maneuverable, LO, ASEA, truly competitive F-15? The F-15 ACTIVE program certainly showed that some of it was feasible. Something like that could compete with the Su-35BM and the Typhoon, in my mind. Or is the legacy F-15 going to be swept under the rug like the F-14 was in the wake of the F-22?

The F-15 and the Su-27 have always been rivals in my mind. It would truly be a pity if the F-15 fell so far behind. 😮