The McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle is an American twin-engined, all-weather tactical fighter aircraft designed by McDonnell Douglas (now Boeing) to gain and maintain air supremacy in all aspects of aerial combat. Following reviews of proposals, the United States Air Force selected McDonnell Douglas's design in 1967 to meet the service's need for a dedicated air-superiority fighter. The Eagle first flew in July 1972, and entered service in 1976. It is among the most successful modern fighters, with over 100 victories and no losses in aerial combat, with the majority of the kills by the Israeli Air Force.

Dubbed the F-15EX, the new variant of the venerable jet offers more modern flight controls, cockpit displays, and radar. It would also pack more firepower, including two dozen air-to-air missiles.

As far as the F-15EX's specifications, sources describe the aircraft as a single seat variant of the latest F-15 advanced Strike Eagle derivative - the F-15QA destined for Qatar - but it will also integrate many of the features and upgrades that the USAF intends (or intended as it may be) to include on its nearly four-decade-old F-15C/D fleet.

It includes a flat-panel glass cockpit, JHMCS II helmet mounted display (HMD), revised internal wing structure, fly-by-wire controls, [and] APG-82 AESA radar, as well as the Eagle Passive Active Warning Survivability System (EPAWSS) electronic warfare and electronic surveillance suite, among other features.

The plane will pack a ton of firepower. Among its configurations will be twenty-two air-to-air missiles, eight air-to-air missiles and twenty-eight Small Diameter Bombs (SDBs), or seven larger two-thousand-pound bombs with the same eight air-to-air missiles. That compares to just eight air-to-air missiles for the F-15C/D Eagle.

Pictured here is a stunning 1:72 scale diecast replica of a USAF Boeing F-15EX Eagle II multi-role fighter that was attached to the 53rd Wing, then deployed to Eglin AFB, Florida, during 2022. Sold Out!

Dimensions:
Wingspan: 7-inches
Length: 10-1/2-inches

Release Date: July 2023

Historical Account: "Test, One, Two..." - The 96th Test Wing is a United States Air Force unit assigned to the Air Force Test Center of Air Force Materiel Command at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida. The wing was activated at Eglin in 1994 as the 96th Air Base Wing, the headquarters for all support units on Eglin, the largest installation in the Air Force. In 2012, it absorbed the mission and resources of the 46th Test Wing and added the mission of testing and evaluating weapons, navigation and guidance systems and command and control systems.

The wing's first predecessor was organized during World War II as the 96th Bombardment Group. After training in the United States, the group flew Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses from England. The group led the first shuttle mission to Regensburg on August 17th, 1943. The group earned two Distinguished Unit Citations for its combat performance. After VE Day, the group returned to the United States and was inactivated. The group was briefly active in the Air Force Reserve from 1947 until 1949.

The 96th Bombardment Wing was activated in 1953 at Altus Air Force Base, Oklahoma and received Boeing B-47 Stratojet bombers the following year as a component of Strategic Air Command's deterrent force. In 1957, the wing moved to Dyess Air Force Base, Texas where it converted to the Boeing B-52 Stratofortress in 1963 and the Rockwell B-1 Lancer in 1985. The wing also operated air refueling aircraft, and during the early 1960s was assigned a squadron of intercontinental ballistic missiles. In 1984, the World War II group was consolidated with the wing. The wing was inactivated in 1993 and its mission, personnel and equipment were transferred to the 7th Bomb Wing, which moved on paper to Dyess when Carswell Air Force Base became a reserve installation.