f15 McDonnell Douglas F-15A "Baz"

[spacenavy90 1,402]

McDonnell Douglas F-15A "Baz"

 

 

 

 

While making my History, Performance & Discussion thread, I noticed that there had been no suggestion made for the Israeli F-15 Baz! Considering the amount of combat it has seen in IAF, this felt like it needed to be corrected immediately.

 

Brief History:

 

Due to brewing middle-east conflicts Israel had the opportunity of becoming McDonnell Douglas' first export customer of the F-15 in 1974, after a comparison study between it and the Grumman F-14 Tomcat. This was important to Israel as it had lost quite over 100 of its F-4 Phantom's recently in the 1973 Yom Kippur War and the Israeli Air Force was looking to replace them. Ultimately, the Israeli Air Force decided that the F-15 was superior in nearly every way and sought to make an order. As a part of the "Peace Fox" program the first four Eagles arrived in Israel in December of 1976, with 19 F-15A and 2 F-15B two-seaters scheduled to arrive in late 1977.

 

It would not be long after until the new F-15 Eagles, nicknamed the 'Baz' (Hebrew for 'falcon'), would prove their effective after see their first active conflict in 1979 with the first Eagle victory in history. On June 27, 1979 Major Moshe Melnik of the Israeli Air Force scored the first F-15 kill on a Syrian MiG-21 using a Rafael Python 3 missile. Three more MiG-21s were destroyed by other members of Melnik's formation at this time. However this was only the beginning of the Eagle's dramatic success as an air superiority fighter as it went on to server in every major Israeli military operation there on after.

 

To this day, the F-15 is credited with a total of 104 aerial victories, with not a single loss as a result of combat.

 

Specifications:

Spoiler

Length: 19.45m

Height: 5.65m

Wingspan: 13.05m

Wing area: 56.49m² (608.0ft²)

Powerplant: (2) Pratt & Whitney F100-PW-100 afterburning turbofan engines

Thrust

    Military power: 130,520 N

    Afterburner: 201,060 N

Max speed: Mach 2.5

Service ceiling: 20,000m (65,000ft)

Weight

    Empty weight: 12,475kg (27,500lb)

    Max T-O weight: 25,400kg (56,000lb)

Internal fuel capacity: 6,658 liters (1,759 US gal, ~11,400 lbs @ 6.5 lb/gal)

External fuel tanks

• 610 US gal (2,309 liters)

 

Avionics:

• AN/APG-63 radar
• AN/ALR-56A radar warning receiver

 

Countermeasures: None until 1986 [1], then AN/ALE-45 CMD - Eight dispensers of 30 1"x1" chaff (white) or 15 1"x2" flares (red) (240 chaff, 120 flares total)

 

Cannon: M61A1 Vulcan (940 rounds, 4000 or 6000 RPM)

A-A Missiles:

• AIM-9J/-9G/9H/-9L Sidewinder
• AIM-7E2/-7F Sparrow
• Rafael Python 3

 

A-G Ordnance:

• Mark 82 (LDGP, Snakeye)
• Mark 84 LDGP

Unguided, dumb bombs only, with CCIP.

Later models modified for additional strike options.

 

Stores Loading (TF-15A) and Photos:

Spoiler

 

 

 

Photos:

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

^ HUD view of a Python 3 launched by IAF pilot 'Moshe Melnik' heading towards an enemy MiG.

 

 

 

 

Videos:

Spoiler

 

 

 

Sources:

Quote

1. F-15 Baz - Ra'anan Weiss, Alon Koren
2. Israeli F-15 Eagle Units in Combat - Shlomo Aloni
3. https://www.israeli-weapons.com/weapons/aircraft/f-15/F-15.htm
4. http://www.airvectors.net/avf15_2.html#m3
5. http://www.alternatewars.com/SAC/F-15_Eagle_CS_-_January_1976.pdf

 

 

 

[yoyolast 1,708]

Open for discussion. 

[spacenavy90 1,402]

3 hours ago, yoyolast said:

Open for discussion. 

 

[Milocat 4,854]

+1 with other F-15s.

[DracoMindC 317]

+1, while on the surface it may seem identical to American F-15As the Israeli one has different weapon options and iirc more ground attack options than their American counterparts. A must for the ISR TT

[Suizu_Aika 59]

+1 for me for more upcoming gen-4 aircraft

[trash game 21]

+1 can't wait to Israel's f-15

[Fireraid233 4,274]

+1

[oom1992 649]

+ F-15A from Isreal good IR missile better than F-15A (USAF), let me guess should be no more BR 11.7 because only have SARH BVR missile

[trash game 21]

Is there an example of whether the Israeli Air Force f-15a actually used Sparrow e2?

Edited September 5, 2022 by AntonMutterstarb

[BonesNewkirk@live 14]

Good suggestion, recommend adding the Baz after the F-4E ISR at 11.7/12.0 with AIM-7F and Python 3s as it's most efficient loadout. +1

[GeeNo_MS 489]

+1

[PARDUS IX@live 263]

It could also carry gubu-8-15 and all walleye variants in IAF service at that time.

 

 

[spacenavy90 1,402]

38 minutes ago, PARDUS IX@live said:

It could also carry gubu-8-15 and all walleye variants in IAF service at that time.

 

 

 

Are you sure that this isn't a later model of F-15?

[MonkeyBussiness 1,228]

On 02/07/2022 at 21:37, spacenavy90 said:

Countermeasures: None until 1986 [1], then AN/ALE-45 CMD - Eight dispensers of 30 1"x1" chaff (white) or 15 1"x2" flares (red) (240 chaff, 120 flares total)

wich mean it did fight in 1980/1982 without CM

[spacenavy90 1,402]

3 hours ago, MonkeyBussiness said:

wich mean it did fight in 1980/1982 without CM

 

That's right. Here is another account from a former USAF Eagle driver about the lack of CMD:

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/3/21/2087220/-Air-Minded-Speedbrake-Chaff

[MonkeyBussiness 1,228]

19 minutes ago, spacenavy90 said:

 

That's right. Here is another account from a former USAF Eagle driver about the lack of CMD:

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/3/21/2087220/-Air-Minded-Speedbrake-Chaff

i want that scope in the eagle

[Waifu_Vega 3]

+1

[Shin_Kazama_ 193]

+1
Super excited to see the F-15 come in just about any form!

[oom1992 649]

There's a possibility that F-15A Baz might be early fighter aircraft 12.0 toptier with BVRAAM AIM-7 in rank 8 because in major update " La Royale '' F-4E Kurnass 2000 without AIM-7

Edited June 14, 2023 by oom1992

[VikernesVarg 1,525]

On 31/12/2022 at 06:10, MonkeyBussiness said:

wich mean it did fight in 1980/1982 without CM

 

In the USAF (and probably other air forces too), countermeasures were designed primarily with the avoidance of ground based missile systems in mind. The F-15A was initially (in the late 1970's) purely employed as an air-superiority fighter by the US, and as such, doctrine stated that countermeasures were unnecessary weight/expense on such a mission since the fighter pilot was supposed to keep enemies off his six by evasion or a wingman backup. Of course, the proliferation of Soviet all-aspects in the following few years meant that flares/chaff became indispensable to all missions, not just ground-attack. The ground-strike mission of the F-16A is why that model always had flares/chaff from the get-go. I would assume however if we get the F-15A in game, it will definitely come with its early 1980's countermeasures mounting.