Air Force fighter jet fires air-to-air weapon
EGLIN AFB, Fla. – The test team for the Air Force’s newest fighter jet, the F-15EX Eagle II, reached a milestone recently with the first successful live firing of a missile from the aircraft.
During a Jan. 25 mission, an F-15EX crewed by Maj. Benjamin Naumann and Maj. Mark Smith of the Eglin Air Force Base-based 40th Flight Test Squadron fired an AIM 120-D mediumrange air-to-air missile at an aerial drone flying over the Eglin Gulf Test and Training Range, a 120,000-squaremile stretch of the eastern Gulf of Mexico managed by Eglin’s 96th Test Wing and used for military testing and training.
The successful missile shot was part of the regularly held Weapons System Evaluation Program (WSEP), an initiative of the Eglin-based 53rd Wing. The 53rd Wing is responsible for operational testing and evaluation of new equipment and systems proposed for use by combat air forces. The 83rd Fighter Weapons Squadron at Tyndall Air Force Base, part of the 53rd Wing, is responsible for the monthly WSEP.
“The squadron was thrilled to help orchestrate and support this historic shot with our sister organization from Eglin,” said Maj. Andrew Smith, a WSEP program manager. “The F-15EX represents the next era of air-to-air capabilities and the opportunity to execute a first shot utilizing that platform was monumental.”
According to a news release from the Air Force’s Air Combat Command, the F-15EX detected and tracked the drone via sensors onboard the aircraft and launched the missile. The missile did not actually strike the drone, according to the news release. Instead, “the missile flight was terminated” after tracking determined that “the shot was a WSEP success,” according to the news release.
“I am humbled to have the opportunity to fire the first weapon, but the bigger success is the verification of the
F-15EX capability to live-fire a missile,” Naumann said in the news release. He called the successful shot “another important step towards fielding the aircraft to combat units.”
Colton Myers, an F-15EX test project manager, added that the successful missile firing “will pave the way for more complex missile shots in the future.”
The first F-15EX, built by the Boeing aerospace company, arrived at Eglin in March of last year, followed by a second F-15EX in April. The two-seat jets, which can be flown by a single pilot, are at Eglin for combined rounds of developmental and operational testing, the initial phase of which is expected to run through at least the end of this year.
Developmental testing assesses an aircraft’s capabilities and limitations to improve its performance. Operational testing involves placing an aircraft in a “combat relevant” environment to determine whether it performs as expected.
The ongoing testing of the F-15EX at Eglin represents the first time the Air Force has combined operational (OT) and developmental testing (DT).