EVENDALE, Ohio - The U.S. Air Force Field Service Evaluation (FSE) program for the GE F110-powered F-15E is successfully entering its sixth month with a second fighter aircraft now flying in the program.
The USAF F110/F-15E FSE program is currently scheduled for approximately 12 months in duration and will involve more than 1,000 engine flight hours on two F-15E aircraft from the USAF Operational Test and Evaluation Squadron based at Nellis Air Force Base near Las Vegas, Nevada.
The first F-15E in the program, powered by GE's F110-GE-129 engine, commenced flight testing in April and has accumulated more than 90 sorties and more than 140 flight hours of operation. The aircraft's mission completion rate during the program has been 100 percent.
The second GE-powered F-15E aircraft in the program began flight testing on August 28.
Although the F110 is not currently deployed on the twin-engine F-15, the F110 engine family powers the majority of the single-engine F-16C/Ds in service worldwide with the USAF and five foreign governments.
The USAF FSE program follows the successful completion of the 1996 qualification flight test of the F110-GE-129 in the F-15E, which involved 19 flights and 44 flight hours.
The F110-GE-129 requires few external adjustments for installation into the F-15E engine bays. The F-15E was designed to be compatible with either the Pratt & Whitney or GE engines and as such was easily converted from F100-PW-220 to F110-GE-129 power.