The F-15EX is a worthy remix of a classic American fighter

THE US AIR FORCE has officially gone back to the future, placing an order in July last year for eight F-15EX fighters.

- ALEX HOLLINGS

The Boeing-built jets are the first of what could be as many as 144 new fighters to supplement older models of the F-15, which took to the skies in 1972 and have maintained an astonishing string of 104 air-to-air kills and zero losses. The F-15 may have seemed destined to collect dust with other Cold War relics, but the twin-engine aerial powerhouse has proven too capable to retire.

McDonnell Douglas built the F-15 from hard lessons learned from the Vietnam War, when fighters such as the F-4 Phantom were designed with the assumption that the increased range allotted by air-to-air missiles had rendered dogfighting obsolete. P-51 Mustang and F-86 Sabre pilots left the Korean War with an impressive 13:1 kill ratio; in Vietnam, however, F-4 pilots, who lacked guns for close-range air combat and the maneuverability found in smaller, more nimble fighters, managed an abysmal 1.5:1 kill ratio.