Donna was on the flight line at Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, Japan, to welcome me home from a three-week deployment to RAAF Darwin in Australia, and snapped this photo of me taxiing in. The year was 1992.
I bring up this bit of ancient history because the F-15 Eagle, the fighter I flew for the Air Force, has finally retired.
Of course, there are caveats: F-15 Eagles still fly for Japan, Israel, and Saudi Arabia. The California, Louisiana, and Oregon Air National Guard still fly them. But the active-duty USAF has retired its last Eagle. That jet was assigned to Kadena, where it made its final flight in January.
F-15s flew for the active-duty USAF for 51 years, from 1974 to 2025. F-15s were based at Kadena for 46 of those years, from 1979 to 2025. The last flight marked the end of an era.
But what do you know, they’re making a new version of the F-15 now, the F-15EX Eagle II, and some time next year Eagle IIs will be based at Kadena. In the meantime, the USAF is keeping a fighter presence there with stateside-based F-16s, F-35s, and F-22s on temporary duty.
Update: I need to remember that I write these Air-Minded posts for everyone, not just for aviation geeks. If you don’t know the F-15 Eagle, I may have left you with some questions:
So the Air Force had Eagles but they’re retired now? But pretty soon it’s going to have Eagle IIs and aren’t those basically the same? So what’s the big deal?
There are actually three different F-15s. Left to right, below: F-15 Eagle, F-15 Strike Eagle, F-15 Eagle II.
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When F-15 pilots talk about the Eagle,* we mean the original single-seat air-to-air fighter. Including those still in service with the Air National Guard, Japan, Israel, and Saudi Arabia, 1,198 were built between 1972 and 1997. At one point the active-duty USAF flew around 700 Eagles. As of January this year, it’s down to zero.
The F-15E Strike Eagle, often called the Mudhen, is a different airplane with a different mission. Although it looks generally the same as the Eagle, it has two seats and is employed in an air-to-ground role (it can also be used in the air-to-air role). It’s heavier and it’s crewed … you need a pilot in front and a weapon systems officer in back to operate it. The USAF has around 200 Strike Eagles, manufactured from 1985 to 1997; these are still in service. An additional 200+ newer models have been built (and are still being built) for allied air forces, including Korea, Singapore, Qatar, Israel, and Saudi Arabia.
The F-15EX Eagle II is based on the F-15E Strike Eagle, the version currently in production for the Qatari Air Force. Like the Strike Eagle, it’s a two-seater, but at least in the air-to-air role can be operated by a pilot only, with the rear seat empty. It entered production in 2021 but so far only nine have been delivered. It’s not totally clear to me how we intend to use the 104 Eagle IIs currently planned for: initially, as described above, a small number will be sent to Kadena to take up the mission Eagles used to fly. I suspect some will go to units currently flying the Strike Eagle, where they’ll be used as fighter/bombers and flown by pilot/WSO crews … some of the earliest Strike Eagles are nearing retirement age. But that’s just me talking, so take it for what it’s worth.
*Today, pretty much every journalist and fast jet fan uses the name “Eagle” for any version of the F-15. I, for one, will always be careful to use the right names: Eagle, Strike Eagle, and Eagle II. I think in this I’m in solidarity with everyone who’s ever flown the OG single-seater.
Just to confuse things even more: the OG single-seat Eagle also came in a two-seat trainer version. There weren’t a lot of those, but there were some, and at a quick glance they can be hard to tell from Strike Eagles or Eagle IIs.
End of an era.
How do you feel about the Eagle II?
Tom, I updated the post this morning, and that will provide a partial answer to your question. I wish Boeing and the USAF had gone with a single-seat configuration for the Eagle II and I’m not alone: at least so far the air-to-air units slated to get Eagle IIs intend to fly them with the rear seat empty. I think it’s inevitable, though, that some will be used for air-to-ground with a WSO in back, and I have no argument against that. The Eagle II, like the OG Eagle, has always been faster than the F-22 Raptor, with far greater range, and can carry more missiles. Stealth? Fuck stealth. In fact, when the USAF starts to retire the Raptor (which was made to replace the Eagle), I bet it’ll be Eagle IIs that replace it.