what if the US Navy went with the F-15

[helmutkohl]

At one point when the F-14 program was struggling, the US considered a variant of the F-15 as an alternative.
To be knowledge there were a few proposals, F-15N, F-15N PHX

It was claimed that modifications resulted in a heavier aircraft which made it less appealing than the F-14.
However I am not sure which F-15N variant that pertained to, and that alternative F-15N variant were proposed as a result.

Lets say the USN did go with the F-15N.. some questions would be
1. Would it replace the F-14 or supplement it?
2. Which version of the F-15N would they have likely gone for?
3. Would this affect the Hornet and Super Hornet program today?
4. How would this affect Grumman as a company? would this lead to Grumman's demise earlier (its now merged with Northrop)
5. How would it affect McDonnell Douglas, which would be supplying both the USAF and USN. Would they still merge with Boeing?

 

[Scott Kenny]

1) That was to replace the F-14.
2) Navy absolutely required Phoenix for the Fleet Air Defense role, so F-15N PHX was the only option the Navy would even consider. But adding the AWG-9 and Phoenix missiles added a huge amount of weight to the F-15 and killed the performance.
3) Unlikely to affect the Hornet program, as the Sea Eagle would be replacing F-14s.
4) Likely would have taken out Grumman earlier, as only the F-14 production was keeping the light on.
5) MDD would probably have fought off the merger for a while, but even when they were making the Hornet and C-17 they ended up getting bought out by Boeing.

 

[helmutkohl]

1) That was to replace the F-14.
2) Navy absolutely required Phoenix for the Fleet Air Defense role, so F-15N PHX was the only option the Navy would even consider. But adding the AWG-9 and Phoenix missiles added a huge amount of weight to the F-15 and killed the performance.
3) Unlikely to affect the Hornet program, as the Sea Eagle would be replacing F-14s.

interesting replies on that note, to continue the alternative scenario..

if the USN was still interested in a lighter fighter to supplement the F-15N.. I wonder if they would have chosen the Hornet, with McD supplying both the USN and USAF. Would this pave the way for Vought-General Dynamics navy fighter based on the F-16?

seeing as how the F-14 was eventually replaced by the Super Hornet.. would the same be true for the F-15N? or would it continue to thrive, like its land based counterpart?

 

[Scott Kenny]

interesting replies on that note, to continue the alternative scenario..

if the USN was still interested in a lighter fighter to supplement the F-15N.. I wonder if they would have chosen the Hornet, with McD supplying both the USN and USAF. Would this pave the way for Vought-General Dynamics navy fighter based on the F-16?

They almost certainly would have wanted a lightweight fighter, because the operational/strategic-level problem with the F-14 was that it was too expensive to replace every F-4 1-for-1.

I still think that the USN would have wanted the F-18 due to having twin engines.

seeing as how the F-14 was eventually replaced by the Super Hornet.. would the same be true for the F-15N? or would it continue to thrive, like its land based counterpart?

While I'd want to say the I think the F-15N would continue to thrive, the sheer added weight from navalizing, corrosion protection, and the Phoenix missiles absolutely killed the performance compared to the USAF version. So at the very least it would have required new engines (and new, larger intakes). So I'm not sure the F-15N would have continued in service.

 

[SSgtC]

The biggest thing that absolutely kills the F-15N dead, is the need to modify it for carrier operations and to carry the Phoenix. Once all those changes were done, it was projected to have worse performance than the F-14, and cost just as much to buy. Just to keep the performance up would require even more modifications which would add more cost to the program, making it even less attractive than the Tomcat. It's a mess