Eagle Eye III for the F-15

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After Aimval/Aceval the USAF tested Eagle Eye III which was a solid state television camera on the wing root with a telephoto lens that could produce a picture on the existing radar screen. Does anybody here happen to have any more details on that system or photos of the installation?

https://www.flightglobal.com/FlightPDFArchive/1978/1978 - 2121.PDF

F-15 gets the Eagle Eye FOLLOWING the successful evaluation of a cockpit-mounted rifle telescope last year, the USAF is testing a new visual augmentation system for the F-15 Eagle. The wing-rootmounted Eagle Eye III is a solid-state television camera with a telephoto lens which produces a picture on the existing radar screen. Trials are being carried out at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, by the Air Force Avionics Laboratory and the Tactical Fighter Weapons Centre. Electrooptical visual identification systems have been used before, some F-4Es having been equipped with Tiseo (Target Identification System ElectroOptical). The desirability of optical target identification was demonstrated in Vietnam and again in the recent Air Intercept Missile Evaluation/Air Combat Evaluation (Aimval/Aeeval) programme in Nevada. Although fighters equipped with long-range missiles are theoretically capable of locking on to and destroying enemy aircraft without being detected by their victims, American pilots in Vietnam were forced to identify their targets visually before engaging them. Having thus lost their stand-off advantage, the larger, more visible US aircraft were easily spotted and often destroyed by the less well equipped MiG21s. Mock dogfights over the Nevada desert showed that F-14s and F-15s were unable to establish supremacy over MiG-21-simulating F-5Es, the Tigers consistently scoring simultaneous hits on the attacking aircraft. The Tomcats, deprived of their "fire-and-forget" AIM-54 Phoenix missiles but equipped with the Northrop Television Sight Unit (TVSU), were able to identify the smaller F-5s at a range of 10 miles without being seen. However, the semi-active guidance of the AIM-7F Sparrow obliged the Tomcats to illuminate the target by following the missile to within visual range of the F-5s. This allowed the Sidewinder equipped Tigers to retaliate, often resulting in the simultaneous "destruction" of both aircraft. Had Phoenix been used, the Tomcats could have fired from the limits of augmented visual range and then retreated. Unaided by TSVU, Eagle pilots found that they had to approach to within three miles of the Tigers to ensure positive identification before missile launch. The F-5s, on the other hand, were able to spot the F-15s at a range of five miles and take defensive action. Again, both attacked and attacker were often deemed to have been destroyed in these engagements. Eagle Eye III is an attempt to restore to the larger, more complicated American aircraft a degree of supremacy over the MiG-21-class fighter which is more in keeping with their respective price tags.

Seems the original "Eagle Eye" was a rifle telescope sight that that a pilot developed a bracket for that would be aligned with the "w" on the center of the HUD. Apparently this became a popular modification during Aimval/Aceval for engagements where the ROE required the target to be confirmed visually.
 
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Seems the original "Eagle Eye" was a rifle telescope sight that that a pilot developed a bracket for that would be aligned with the "w" on the center of the HUD. Apparently this became a popular modification during Aimval/Aceval for engagements where the ROE required the target to be confirmed visually.

Like this:

614432
 
At the same time the F-5 pilots were equipping themselves with modified "Fuzz Busters" which were radar detection devices for cars and were gaining in popularity at the time. They were tweaking them to work on the correct frequencies to pick up the F-14 or F-15 radar. Tit for tat....

Enjoy the Day! Mark
 
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Although the installation of TISEO on the F-15 was abandoned during 1972, the development of a new generation electro-optic sensor was initiated during 1987. Dubbed "Eagle Eye Ill" by Perkin-Elmer, this sensor will be mounted in the same left wing root space originally reserved for TISEO. The system consists of a 23 in. long, 10 in. diameter lens assembly and video camera which provides an image on the Sperry video screen used by the armament system. The AF has not announced production plans for the system.

Dennis Jenkins, Aerofax Datagraph 06 - McDonnell Douglas F-15A/B/C/D/E Eagle 1990

Pretty sure it was 1978 not 1987....
 
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The Eagle Eye III is an electro-optic sensor used to visually identify aircraft beyond normal eye range. It has been designed to provide the F-15 aircraft with the same type of daylight electro-optic long range capability as the TISEO system on the F-4E aircraft
 
What I heard was that the chin pod caused far more instability in supersonic flight than was either predicted, or considered acceptable. See also: stations 1 and 9 on the F-15 (second outboard pylons)
 
Untitled-6b22.jpg
http://aviationarchives.blogspot.com/2015/07/f-15-eagle-chin-pod-update.html
Jack Abercrombie (Who later served as Chief Aerodynamicist for MDC) sent this note about the Chin Pod and it’s testing:


“The first flights of the modification on F-15B #2 took place in the last half of Nov 1983. One of these flights was likely the source of the Team Talk article. For a considerable time after that, Polysonic wind tunnel tests, flight simulations, and electronic control system modifications were made to resolve the deleterious effects of the pod on supersonic directional stability. There was a very limited amount of supersonic flight testing during which the predicted effects on stability were experienced.Work on the pod program continued at a rather slow pace at least until early March 1985. After that, it just seemed to fade away.”


F-15B-chin-blister-FQ-evaloriginal3.jpg http://aviationarchives.blogspot.com/2016/06/f-15-eagle-chin-pod-update-addition.html

I got some additional info from Keith "Sven" Svendsen on the F-15 Chin Pod testing I posted here.


Sven says: “The photo in the article actually shows one of the FSD F-15A airframes, 71-0289 I think. The chin pod was also tested on 71-0291, see above: as Chief of Test with the F-15 Program Office. In cleaning out my office I found the referenced photo. At first glance, I thought it was an early 1990s test picture since. In the later days of Desert Storm and for a while afterwards, we were looking at a "Single-Seat SEAD" capability for the MSIP jets - to include direction finding gear a la the chin pod and integrating the AGM-88 on stations 2 and 8. The MSIPs were looking for a mission after air dominance was established.”


Of further note is this:

Sensor-Pod-Sensor-Pod-1.jpg Scan3758Scan37592.jpg RF-15-19764.jpg Untitled-24.jpg

http://aviationarchives.blogspot.com/2014/11/f-15-recon-eagle-article.html
http://aviationarchives.blogspot.com/2015/08/f-15-eagle-recon-and-sensor-pod.html
http://aviationarchives.blogspot.com/2015/05/rf-15-recon-eagle-article.html
 
Not a pound for air to air?
At the time of the testing of the pod, advancements in the radar of the Eagle were already demonstrating promising results in the ability to recognize targets based solely on aspects of their radar signature (NCTR). Hence 1991 gulf war the Eagle was the only coalition fighter allowed to take BVR shots without AWACS clearance. Normally either IFF+AWACS authorization or visual ID (as in this chin pod) would be required. Without visual ID requirements the pod becomes nice to have but unneccessary and perhaps even a detriment to range and performance
 
At the same time the F-5 pilots were equipping themselves with modified "Fuzz Busters" which were radar detection devices for cars and were gaining in popularity at the time. They were tweaking them to work on the correct frequencies to pick up the F-14 or F-15 radar. Tit for tat....

Enjoy the Day! Mark
i spoke with a cf pilot who confirmed that. day 1 of the joint exercise the f-5's were playing the aggressors simulating some sort of mig. the rule of engagement limited them to visual targeting only (the whole exercise was a demo of the f-15.) after losing on day 1 the sl bought a fuzz buster from canadian tire and mounted it on the dashboard of his plane. on day 2 his squadron orbited some point below the exercise floor and just waited for the f-15 squadron to fly along with their radars blasting. when the fuzzbuster went off the f-5 squadron flew up into the exercise space below and behind the f-15's and got their simulated visual kills.
 

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