The beginning of the eighties.
The skies of Lebanon began to be filled with MiG 21 planes of the Syrian Air Force.
An attempt by President Hafez al-Assad to provoke and take over the airspace.
The commander of the Israeli Air Force at the time, Major General David Evri, received permission from the Chief of Staff and the political echelon to shoot down enemy planes. A quartet of F-15 fighter jets was sent on one of the missions. In one of the planes sat the pilot Eitan Ben Eliyahu, who later became the commander of the 13 of the Israeli Air Force.
This was the first air combat for the new F-15 type fighter. A pair of formidable engines, a twin tail that reaches a speed of Mach 2.5, a flight range of about 5,000 kilometers thanks to an unusual amount of fuel, an extreme range of weapons carrying capacity compared to fighter planes Others, and no less important - has aerodynamic capabilities that allow it flexibility in maneuvering, without abnormal vibrations in sharp and fast turns or in other words: make the enemy easy prey.
The Syrian enemy plane appeared as a dot on the control screen of Ben Eliyahu's plane.
"We got into a dogfight," he recalled this week in an interview with Walla.
"We shot down four planes, I shot down one in a very, very close range battle."
The Syrian MiG pilot noticed Ben Eliyahu and tried to escape with all his might for his life, and with no choice flew to the Shoof Mountains, where he quickly dived into the wadis because he estimated that Ben Eliyahu would give up the risk of flying low between the mountains and in a difficult topographical area.
Ben Eliyahu doggedly pursued him for several seconds, locked the cannon on the Syrian plane - and opened fire until he saw it catch fire and crash to the bottom of the wadi.
A year later, Ben Eliyahu participated in the operation to attack the reactor in Iraq, as part of eight F-15 fighter jets that secured the eight F-16 jets that attacked targets.
Celebrating 50 years.
Boeing F-15 ex plane (photo: official website, Boeing)
Today, the F-15 is already at the heart of the Israeli Air Force's attention, which is interested in purchasing 50 aircraft of the most advanced model, and replacing the old order of forces.
However, the story of the monstrous American plane, first produced by the McDonnell Douglas company and later by Boeing, began 50 years ago.
Its first takeoff was reported in 1972. In those years, the Israeli Air Force was looking for a fighter plane that would meet the army's demands for superiority against countries such as Egypt and Syria. On the eve of assuming the position of commander of the Air Force, Benny Peled, together with David Ivri and Amos Lapidot, chose the F-15 as the future of fighter jets, after giving up the choice of F-14 and F-16, when even the The British "Harrier", which takes off vertically with a Hawk missile and saves long routes, is taken into account.
The first F-15 was delivered to the US Air Force in 1975. A year later, Ben Eliyahu was sent as the head of the team to receive the new aircraft from the US, thus Israel became the first foreign country to purchase the aircraft from the Americans
"You can knock down the enemy from any angle"
In 1976, the first quartet of F-15s were delivered to the Israeli Air Force.
The aircraft took off from Arizona and landed in Israel after Shabbat, which later led to a political storm with the ultra-Orthodox, and the overthrow of Yitzhak Rabin's government that did not attach importance to the subtleties of Halacha.
At the absorption ceremony, the Chief of Staff at the time, Major General Mota Gur, stated that "from now on the IDF is different, the State of Israel is different."
The capabilities of the F-15 definitely changed the face of the IDF, and the pilots of the corps broke records at the very beginning of its career on an international scale.
Six months later, it was decided to appoint Ben Eliyahu as the commander of the first F-15 Eagle ("Falcon") squadron of Israel Air Force: The Double Tail Knights Squadron After three years he finished his duty and advanced in the force, but managed to get an exceptional permit to participate in the operation to attack the reactor in Iraq.
"We arrived in Israel with a plane whose maneuverability was three to four degrees higher than all the other planes, and in air combat training between us and the rest of the Air Force, the result was 80-0," he said.
"A certain period of time passed and the other squadrons learned how to defend and attack the F-15. At the same time, new missiles also came in, with a new ability to shoot down. It was no longer necessary to sit on the back of the enemy plane, but it was possible to shoot it down using weapons from any angle."
is in the heart of attention.
Boeing F-15 ex plane (photo: official website, Boeing)
Thanks to the capabilities of the F-15, whose maneuverability in those days exceeded all imagination, the skies of the Middle East were quickly filled with air-to-air battles.
However, this aircraft was also designed for air-to-ground combat.
The McDonald Douglas company developed fuel tanks attached to the wing root of the plane, which almost doubled the volume of fuel, and on which bombs could be carried, making it capable of carrying bombs at long ranges.
"In the early 1970s until the beginning of the 1980s, the Syrians still had ambitions to take over the airspace using aircraft made by the Soviet Union, but as soon as the F-15 arrived, it achieved air superiority," said one of the Air Force veterans, who was particularly proud of the Israeli Air Force Broke all the records with the state-of-the-art aircraft.
"It was impossible to deal with him, there was no chance for anyone who came within his contact range. We shot down many Syrian planes like that without losing a single plane."
"After the Galilee Peace War, the Syrians already realized that they would not have equality in the air and moved to another no less worrying concept - surface-to-air missile batteries," said the official.
"They really avoided meeting us in the air, because they were afraid of being aborted. This is a plane that changed the Middle East in such a way that it gave the Israeli Air Force control of the skies. During the six days and on Yom Kippur, we had planes fall. We had Mirages and Phantoms with quite different capabilities, and as soon as the F arrived -15 - This changed the rules of the game, and the fighting doctrine of the corps. The Syrians simply ran away from every F-15."
Eitan Ben Eliyahu (Photo: Flash 90, Moshe Shai)
Another record was broken
In 1985, another record was broken, when Operation "Wooden Leg" was carried out, during which F-15s bombed the PLO headquarters in Tunis. This was the longest attack ever, carried out by the corps pilots at a range of about 2,300 kilometers, including aerial refueling which in itself was a new record.
Later, the F-15 Ai model was developed and created. It was based on new "avionics" systems (fire control, navigation and communication, and electronic warfare. AB). The commander of the Israeli Air Force in those days was Major General Ben Eliyahu, who received the The new model began in 1996. "Both a very long flight range, both air-to-air capabilities and sophisticated avionics systems made the F-15A the ultimate bomber," concluded Ben Eliyahu, who over the years became one of the pilots most identified with the F-15.
The plane itself was developed and created in the beginning based on the lessons of the US Army from the Vietnam War, including the duty to improve the ratio of downing planes between the Americans and their opponents and to create superiority in the air, which until then was in the city under the control of the "Phantom" plane and a little of the "Skyhawk".
"Lock Down Shoot Down"
The advanced radar that the plane already had at that time incorporated a new concept: "look down shoot down". ' goals.
You can do quite a few things because of the F-15's big nose, inside which technologies are placed," explained one of the Air Force veterans. "They
attached air-to-air missiles that reach a long range, radar missiles that ride on the radar beam and shoot down planes at long ranges and missiles Heat, which can be dropped in air battles when you see the target," he continued to describe wistfully. In
the early 1980s, they began to develop the Model E aircraft. This time it was designed as a two-seater, multi-mission attack aircraft, with an emphasis on ground targets. This, in contrast to the previous models, on which the emphasis had air superiority. It has extraordinary capabilities, among other things, in acquiring targets on the ground and attacking them,
Low flight at night for long range and high armament carrying capacity.
The first flight was made in 1986.
On video: Documentation from an underground airbase that Iran revealed (from social networks)
Thanks to Yitzhak Rabin's excellent relationship with the President of the United States Clinton, a purchase deal was born for a strategic plane: F-15i.
The first planes landed in Israel in 1998, and they still fly today and form the backbone of the Israeli Air Force and a huge force for secret missions very far from Israel's borders, even these days.
The Boeing Company has consolidated the capabilities of the F-15 aircraft in a new patent.
In September 2019, the Boeing company revealed the counter to the original model: an advanced model of the F-15 known as EX in which improved performance in the steering systems, avionics, electronic warfare, scope and type of armaments and powerful engines were integrated.
The US Air Force bought it on a large scale.
In the background, the Israeli Air Force accelerated the process of purchasing the aircraft and submitted a request for 25 aircraft with an option for another 25.
When Boeing Military President Ted Colbert landed in Israel this week and met with Prime Minister Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Galant, it was understandable that the Israeli Air Force wants the plane in Israel as soon as possible.
According to estimates, if the deal goes through without delays and the United States understands Israel's desire to replace the old generation of planes and prepare for doomsday - an attack on the nuclear facilities throughout Iran, then it is possible that the schedules for the delivery of the first planes will be shortened and they will land here as early as 2026.
Capable of carrying long-range bombs.
Boeing F-15 ex plane (photo: official website, Boeing)
According to sources in the Ministry of Defense, there is an intention to incorporate advanced technologies, including those produced by Israeli companies, into the aircraft intended for the Israeli Air Force.
The F-15IA, based on the EX model, has the AESA radar, one of the most advanced in the world, with a powerful mission computer, a maximum flight speed of Mach 2.5 for a flight range of 2200 km and, according to foreign publications, a weapons carrying capacity that exceeds 13,000 kg The large nose of the F15 allows it to incorporate quite a few technologies, such as antennas of various types and electronic warfare - which help it survive the Mediterranean battlefield, which is defined as one of the toughest in the world. Its cockpit is unrecognizably different and now has large displays, allowing the pilot to receive information A huge, computer-based steering system, or in other words: the steering means of the plane are not necessarily controlled directly by the pilot, but by a computerized system to which he inputs operations that the computer knows how to perform with great precision and speed. The vision capabilities of the plane combined with the armaments allow it to be a type of " "Flying Iron Dome"
According to the assessment, if the Israeli Air Force is required to attack the nuclear facilities throughout Iran, it will be the Hadir planes (the F-35) that will operate in the first stage to disable Iran's surface-to-air missile systems, and then the F-15 planes loaded with weapons will go in to destroy the enemy's targets that have been dug very deep in recent years under the ground
"What is beautiful about the Israeli Air Force is that it knows how to combine different types of aircraft in a harmony that makes them together more powerful. Without entering into an operative plan of one kind or another when the pilots know how to exhaust the advantages of the aircraft and combine them to create harmony? The Israeli Air Force has almost no competitors in the world," he said A veteran Air Force pilot who flew the F15 over the years said, "This is an aircraft with the largest weapons carrying capacity in the world that knows how to hit an unprecedented range of targets and very deep in the ground."
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