Science Gives You Strength Too

F-15 Eagle is an American all-weather tactical fighter designed to gain and maintain air superiority in aerial combat.

According to the U.S. Department of Defense, at least 200 thousands out of more than 1,400,000 people on active duty in the U.S. Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force, perform scientific, engineering, and technical tasks.

Science has always been beneficial for national strength since the earliest ancient warfare and similarly during peaceful eras.

With the following interesting comparison between the F-15 aircraft fighters in service in the Royal Saudi Air Force (RSAF) and the Israeli Air Force (IAF), we'll notice that self-generated technology and scientific researching are the way to superiority.

RSAF maintains the third largest fleet of F-15s in the world after USA and Japan. The F-15 also forms the backbone of the RSAF with about 153 bomber, fighter, and interceptor aircrafts. This number will increase to 237 jets in 2015. On the other hand, the IAF employs about 77 F-15s only, as it's not the core of its air forces.

Engines: the Saudi F-15s are powered by the F-110-GE-129 P&W engine which is one of two engines used by the United States Air Force (USAF) for their F-15s. Although this model was enhanced, the IAF rejected it and showed its interest in a more sophisticated and more expensive engine. That other classy titanium F100-PW-229was initially suspended by the USAF because its costly performance, however, the IAF showed interest in its capabilities which makes it the best engine for F-15 fighters in the world.

Radars: Saudis expressed interest in upgrading the radars of their F-15s by introducing the version APG-63(v)3 of the Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA). Nevertheless, the Israeli F-15s are already using the APG-70 radar which is more advanced than the previously mentioned version. The Israeli-used radar allows the aircrafts to conduct topographic scanning in all weather conditions, in addition to detecting ground targets from longer ranges. Moreover, it also helps in drawing maps that can be televised to the crew via Liquid-crystal Display (LCDs).

- Military Technology: Where do Muslims Stand? - Science on the Modern Battlefield.

Avionics: Because of the insufficiency of the required scientific researches in the majority of Muslim countries and the incapability of national-manufacturing of scientific applications such as military technologies, Saudi Arabia has signed a contract to purchase Targeting Pods of the type Low Altitude Navigation & Targeting Infrared for Night (LANTIRN). This type of targeting pods is capable of improving the aircrafts' combat effectiveness and navigational qualifications by facilitating low altitude-flying at night and in all weather conditions to attack ground targets with a variety of precision-guided weapons.

On the other side, the IAF succeeded in fabricating a more advanced AN/AAQ-28(V) LITENING targeting pod which was designed by their Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd. The Zionist state has also replaced the American Link 16 Tactical Data Exchange Network which is used by the Saudi F-15s, and instead of it they used the Israeli-made tactical date exchange network called RADA for their F-15 fighters.

Electronic Warfare Systems (EWS): The Saudi F-15s are dependent on the Digital Electronic Warfare System (DEWS) which was produced by the British BAE Systems plc. That EWS which can be easily distorted by Israeli counters, while they refused to deploy American-made EWS and preferred to install their own Elisra SPS-3000 EWS which was manufactured by the Israeli defense electronics manufacturer and integrator Elbit Systems Ltd. Elisra's SPS 3000 is capable of passive missile approach warning of mid-IR range, as well as the ability to distort radar signals, and locate the source of counter-distortions.

The Saudi F-15 fighters are reinforced by the Boeing Joint Helmet Mounted Cueing System (JHMCS). Whereas the Zionist fighters use the comparable Israeli-madeDASH which enables pilots to aim their weapons simply by looking at the target. The sophisticated helmet measures the pilot’s Line-Of-Sights (LOS) relative to the aircraft, and transfers its information to other aircraft systems.

References

How F-15s Work. HowStuffWorks.com

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Islam is the Assistant Editor of the Health & Science Section of OnIslam.net. He studied Biology as a major and he's an Administrative Member in The Astronomical Society of Mahmoud Mosque (ASMM), Egypt. He achieved a Postgraduate Diploma in Anthropology from The Institute of African Researches & Studies, Cairo University.