F-15's Intelligent EW Upgrade: EPAWSS The Key to Electronic Superiority

The F-15 Eagle is an air superiority fighter that has stood the test of time with an unbeatable combat record of over 100 victories to zero air to air losses. To put that number in perspective, there are many air forces today which do not have 100 fighters. Today the F-15 is the USAFs front line air dominance fighter, with over 230 single seat F-15Cs and over 200 Dual seat F-15E Strike Eagles in the operational inventory. The F15 Eagle is expected to serve until at least 2040, and is a proven platform. However, the F-15 airframe is almost 50 years old and is in need of an avionics upgrade to stay current with near peer threats. Before we go any further, this video does not cover the newly introduced F15EX, but rather the existing F15 Cs Ds and Es already in the USAF inventory. The F15EX is an amazing essentially all new platform and is already the subject of its own video, I will leave a link in the video description below.
Getting back to the current fleet of F15s, between the F15C and E models virtually every tactical application of aerial warfare is capable of being prosecuted. These include but are not limited to air superiority, long range interdiction, suppression of enemy air defenses or SEAD, escorting bombers or other high value assets such as AWACS, Combat Air Patrol, interception, and given its endurance, support of friendly forces for extended periods of time on station. Given their relatively large numbers, operational readiness, and global deployment, the Eagle is likely to be one if not the first USAF aircraft to respond to a sudden or developing threat.

Credits/Attributions:
"The appearance of U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) visual information does not imply or constitute DoD endorsement."

EPAWSS Animations Courtesy of BAE Systems:

F15EX Video Courtesy of Viking Aero Images:

F-15EX first flight video courtesy of:
Alex Farwell / Viking Aero Images:

F-15 EX Concept Art:



This video is an opinion editorial commentary.
Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for fair use purposes such as criticism, commentary, parody, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.

[joshcrys]

Upgrades people, Upgrades! If there are still F4s flying, the F15 must still have life to give!

[craig]

F-15EX is what all of us Air Force pilots are looking forward to, which will give us 100 years of F-15s! Incredible!

[teddy.d]

I love the part of the video showing the Eagles flying over Dubai. (That’s where it looks like but I may be wrong) At any rate, the view is spectacular.

[aboredvit]

You are definitely one of the best aviation channels on YouTube: production, content, regular posting, etc. Keep up the great work! Can you do some videos on the SR-71 and SR-72?

[juanarce]

Epawss is a smart investment to keep the venerable f-15 in the game.

[unknownsniper]

Great videos. Brings back good memories my dad was a mechanic on these in Lakenheath UK. Used to take me and my brother down to the hangars and check out the night time take offs!!

[timdodd]

Such a badass jet. I love F22 Raptors though.

[KernowekTim]

The Eagle has to be the most consequential military attack aircraft ever produced. EPAWSS certainly promotes this ideal. 'Contender Nations' must be perplexed and somewhat infuriated, if they had considered the Eagles to be about to become obsolete, only to be made aware that this is certainly not the case for the foreseeable future. The F15 EX probably makes them groan louder with acceptance of these realities. An altogether deadly package. The U.S Military is no-ones fool, this video proves but one facet, regarding this fact. Great video! ATB my friend. Take care, and " Keep 'em comin' please!"

[sircommander]

You should talk about the various modded F15 from the diffrent export countries such as Israel and singapore and Japan

[sircommander]

:) finnaly a video on one of my favourite fighters
Thanks again tog

[andreasleonardo]

Too nice video 👍👍👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻its talking about F-15 aircrafts especially C&E versions..with their electronic warfare & EPAWSS characters really it was terrific video with sufficient knowledge about F-15 aircrafts...thanks for sending. 👍👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻🙏🏼...yes upgrading the Eagle cognitive electronic warfare &EPAWSS for F- 15 C&E required

[pottierkurt]

If you continue putting out content at this pace we're gonna need a new cold war or you'll run out of planes to cover. But I think politicians got you covered on that one.

Jokes aside. Epic content as ever.

[caleblarsen]

CEW is the future. EPAWSS is a good solution for the predicament we have now, but we really need a clean sheet design for future combat. These F-15Cs and Es won't last forever.

[Chuckish]

At least the F-15 can mount all the equipment internally and not have the airframe gain large blisters like the F-16s have. The Eagle design is one tough bgird, I don't think the F-22 or F-35 could fly with one wing like the F-15 can. I can remember a few stories I heard while in the RCAF and posted to CFB Comox on Vancouver Island, back in 1989 to 1991, the USAF F-15s would stop over in Comox when they were flying from Joint Base McCord, Washington, to Joint Base Elmendorf in Alaska. Whether it was near miss with real Eagles or real damage from boredom while flying CAP in Alaska. They showed how tough the F-15 airframe is.

[appa]

Ooh this EPAWSS thing sounds amazing. Back to its BVR roots! Lose sight lose the fight.

It feels like they're using the eagle fleet like airborne testbeds for new systems and that's awesome.

[GRNbull]

Personally, I think the F-15 is still a highly relevant fighter in terms of mechanical engineering and aerodynamics and thanks to its large size, it could definitely remain potent and relevant for an incredibly long time due to upgrades to its avionics and weapon systems. It is like the Air Forces Abrams.

[artursolinski]

Another great video your research skills are impeccable .I have a question when jet fighter goes through electronics upgrades like this does weaponry need upgrades to be compatible with the systems or can stay the same as it was

[ravencookie]

Similar to the Eagle
This video came like rapid deployment to hot theaters!

Very interesting video!
I’m now more curious on some export variant F-15s
You mentioned the Saudi F-15SA in your F-15EX video

I’d love to hear more about the Saudi F-15S, the Israeli F-15I (and even their locally upgraded F-15A and C), Japan’s F-15J and F-15JD
Oh and of course S.Korean and Singaporean F-15E variants

[tbilisicentralv]

i think all the nifty gadgetry of the 5th gen fighters will be applied to existing 4th gen platforms in the near future, not only with F15 but others also. if military is moving toward increased sit awareness, all platforms need to be brought up to the level.

[joachim]

May i ask what the name of the background track at 3:36 is? :) Great vid btw!