Boeing Offers South Korea Stealthy F-15

South Korea has already ordered 61 F-15K's, which are essentially a very updated version of Boeing's F-15E.
But they are not satisfied with that, and as more advanced fighter aircraft begin flying in nearby nations, Korea has become interested in the F-35.

In order to compete with Lockheed's offering, Boeing has knocked the cobwebs off a 1990's concept for an F-15 without vertical tail fins, with AESA radar and thrust vectoring. The concept is said to be considerably stealthier than a standard F-15 and much less expensive than an F-35.



Seems like Boeing recently offered a stealthier, more advanced F-18 to the USAF as an option against the F-35. It didn't work there and I doubt the tailess F-15 will ever be sold to the Koreans, but it's still an intriguing concept.

Saab (pictured below) is another contender in the Korean advanced fighter competition and they are trying to sell Korea their own version of a super-cruising stealth fighter.



Source:
SK's advanced proposals from Western fighter houses: AW&ST

I don't get it...

As soon as you strap a weapon on the thing, it's not very stealthy. I would think the point is to put weapons on warplanes.

Maybe I'm missing something...

That's a sweet looking aircraft. It almost looks like a next generation aircraft. It would probably be more cost effective to implement these new F-15s and perhaps F-16XLs with updated avionics rather than F-22s.




Of course they would need to tweak the XLs vertical stabilizers to improve stealthiness.

How much of the McAir expertise still resides within Boeing? Its not the work of a moment to make such modifications to an airframe without extensive testing.

It is a very interesting idea, but for all intentions and purposes, is a new airframe. The aerodynamics and structures would require a compete revisiting, as would the flight control system. I suppose the engines can be common, which is a plus.


However, I would have much more faith in Saab delivering on-time and within budget than Boeing...




Besides, do the Koreans really want a competition where one of the competitors will protest if it doesn't get its way?

I don't know if they offer offsets the Koreans may go for it. But my guess is that they will opt for AESA on thier existing F-15 fleet.

kilcoo yes Boeing did protest, but before the announcment BOTH companies said they would do so if they lost.

Originally posted by FredT
kilcoo yes Boeing did protest, but before the announcment BOTH companies said they would do so if they lost.

The last line was a tongue in cheek remark - not meant to be taken seriously


Anyhoo - with the current financial climate sure to impact around the world over the next few years (there is alot of lag, we haven't seen near the worst of it yet), procuring new fighters may well be quite low down the list of priorities for the Koreans.

Oh, and a few points of note re the design.


1. It must be 3D TVC, and it will need to be integrated into the FCS on an even more fundamental level than the F-22. At high alpha, the lateral control will have to come from the engines.


2. It is doubtful the VLO properties of the F-15 SuperDooperKoreanVersion (or SDKV for short) are any way better than a EF-T or Rafale. Without extensive (read: expensive) sub-structure redesigns, it will be little more than some RAM applied over the more sensitive areas.


3. I'd like to see how Boeing are gonna hide the variable ramp inlets and the compressor face from the radar. For these reasons, it is doubtful the F-15 SDKV will even be as good as the euro-canards for radar returns.


4. I suppose shrinking the empennage will improve the roll rate somewhat, but I would imagine the F-15 SDKV will still lag the competition (F-22, F-35, eurocanards) somewhat. I also don't see how the relatively poor high-alpha performance is addressed. TVC is a control mechanism for high-alpha flight, not a raw performance improver as such.

Originally posted by wingman77
It would probably be more cost effective to implement these new F-15s and perhaps F-16XLs with updated avionics rather than F-22s

It would take time, money, effort, a lot of it, to start producing these new F-15s. It make no sense at all over putting that same energy into producing more Raptors (at a lower price), which are vastly superior.

[edit on 30-9-2008 by WestPoint23]