F-15E Fighter Jets Can Now Be Loaded With Twice as Many JASSM Missiles
13 May 2021, 13:55 UTC ·
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It all started with a problem. Earlier this year, during a Weapons and Tactics Conference (WEPTAC), expert tacticians were analyzing whether a formation of fighter jets would be more effective than a single bomber, in carrying Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missiles (JASSM) for missions in highly-contested environments. This way, the size of the strike package could be reduced and risks would be distributed. But the problem was that a fighter jet can only carry maximum two JASSMs.
This is how the idea of enabling a fighter to carry more than two missiles was born and the F-15E Strike Eagle was chosen as a test jet. However, Project Strike Rodeo seemed to get stuck before it even began, because these particular munitions did not fit on the F-15E’s fuel tank weapons stations. The JASSM could only be loaded straight from its container, which was too big to fit under the F-15E’s base.