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What if the F-15 Eagle had gone to sea?
In the early 1970s, McDonnell Douglas proposed a carrier-based version of the F-15 for the US Navy. Known as the F-15N, it promised extraordinary speed, a lighter airframe, and more advanced avionics. But adapting the Eagle for carrier operations meant solving one major problem: how to give it the fleet-defence capability of the F-14 Tomcat.
This is the story of the F-15N: the carrier modifications it would have required, the efforts to integrate the AIM-54 Phoenix missile, and the remarkable F-15N-PHX concept, which could have carried up to six Phoenix missiles.
So why did the Navy ultimately walk away from an aircraft that looked so promising on paper?
CONTENT
00:00 Intro
01:23 Background
06:47 Development
07:49 Advantages
19:20 Additions to the 15N
11:20 Upgrades
14:50 Conclusion
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Some original footage and recreated scenes (using simulators like DCS and War Thunder) may not be 100% accurate to the events depicted but have been used for illustrative and dramatic purposes where archival footage was unavailable or restricted by copyright. We aim to remain as historically accurate as possible given the available resources. Our documentaries are researched, written, fact-checked and edited by our production team. Narration is performed by a combination of human presenters and Charles, our signature digital narrator. Charles reads scripts written entirely by our team and is used to provide a consistent narration style across our documentaries.
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We are three aviation enthusiasts who create documentaries, interviews, and video essays focused on Australian and international military aviation history. Our channel explores the stories of military aircraft, fighter pilots, air battles, and the evolution of air power from WWI to today. We do our own research but are not experts in any particular area, so corrections and suggestions are welcome.
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This video further justifies my long, undying love for the Tomcat. It's pretty easy to see how the Tomcat's empty weight was 12,000 lb heavier than the Eagle.
Where the phoenix missile now😂
Man, I wonder what would've happened if that F14 vs F15 flyoff had occurred! Mock 1v1 and 2v2 dogfights would've been a sight to see!
F15N Seagle
What about The F-22N?,The Navy Version of The F-22 that has Variable Swept Wings like the F-14D
What the hell do they mean the failed to turn the f18 into a land based fighter. You don't need to do anything for that. If anything you make it lighter by changing the landing gear. Australia and Canada use them from the land.
Military aviation is full of many “what ifs” I had heard of the Naval Eagle, but this deep dive is excellent. Thanks for posting!
The F-15N would've sufficed as a naval fighter. look at the MiG-29K, and the SU-33/J-15. These are perfectly adequate for a multi-role naval fighter requirement. The Sea Eagle would've shared that same niche.Thing is, the USN wasn't interested in adequate. They were looking for the ultimate fleet defense fighter interceptor. they got it with the Tomcat. A naval fighter designed to be able to serve well into the 21st century. Had the Soviet Union not dissolved, the F-14 would still be serving in an advanced form.
Funny part about the Navy's insistence on having the AIM-54: the missile was used twice in combat, and it dudded both times. 😂
Call it the Seagull, if you will.
Why did the Navy cease to care about fielding the Phoenix 54 when then adopted to F-18?
Wow! The M-D Model 225 has MiG-25 written all over it.
There was also a plan to create a navalised F-16.
This was forced by the Pentagon who were once again adamant to have a single fighter aircraft for all services.
It went nowhere, as the navy selected the F-17 instead as the basis for what would become the F/A-18.
You should do a video on the proposed Mustang carrier variant or the P-40 one, since they launched both from carrier
The F15 and all its reiterations, have proven it would have been a great Navy plane.
It's combat role has been many and varied.
Which fighter jet has shot down a satellite? 😂
This channel teaches me so much about aviation. Never knew a Sea Eagle was contemplated.
So much hype for the Phoenix missile that was never actually used in the end, except by Iran. The actual combat roles experienced were quite different from the force we built the F-14 to take on.
Both were great aircraft but built for completely different missions in mind. The Eagle was a fighter (initially) built to be flexible for many different missions & weapon systems while the Tomcat was basically an airframe designed around one complete weapon system (Phoenix & radar) for a much more narrow mission – fleet defense & long range intercept. To make the Eagle fit into the box the Navy wanted would have neutered it from all the things that made it great – folding wings would have limited it's G rating, added weight would have slowed it down & decreased range while trying to make the radar/AIM-54 work on it would have been problematic at best. Lastly, the Eagle was never good around salt water environments (the '80s C models from Kadena AFB that were transferred to the Air National Guard had horrible corrosion issues on all the wiring/electrical). While maintenance on them would have been much easier than on the F-14, there would have been a whole new host of issues to deal with. By the time a version of the F-15 came around that COULD have done the job (F-15E model), that mission & need for the Tomcat was already passing away. As to which plane was BEST, the easiest way to answer that is which one is still being produced & in service.
Weird, since the main thing about carrier based aircraft seems to be that they need especially sturdy and beefy landing gear and the F-15 has the puniest, most flimsy landing gear of all modern military jets. It looks like a bodybuilder who always skips leg day.
Man an F-15 ACTIVE would have been sweet for carriers. Did know a Sea-Eagle was actually a thing, but there are a few.
But a vortex control leading edge instead edge extension instead of a canard YF-23 sea widow, would have been really cool.
Great video 👍👍👍 😎😉
TBH Tomact's bad luck was being first and hobbled by abyssmal engines.
My grandfather worked for McDonnell for 40years.
Can you imagine an F15N in top gun. Goose would never have talked to us.
Wow ultimate fighter jet
that's why Ester egg call of duty modern warfare 2 og we see a McDonnell Douglas F-15N seagull in game.
Best Military Aviation Channel on the Internet.
(Salam from Pakistan)
Less than 3,000 pounds more weight for the upgrade? Bullcrap. A navy nose strut is larger than the F-15's standard main landing gear. You would need to have stronger structure mounting for the gear as well for the heavier gear that is needed to land on the carrier.
The navy was concerned about the phynixs missile and but then never had fired one in combat and rarely in training
This would have been epic.