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French providing Afghan close-air support

With Air Force F-15E Strike Eagles restricted to standby status in Afghanistan, B-1B Lancer bombers and French air force fighters are providing close-air support for ground forces there.

Because of the Nov. 2 crash of a 1980-vintage F-15C Eagle in Missouri, the Air Force restricted flights of F-15Es and F-15 Eagles to “mission-critical” sorties only. Training, test and most combat missions are grounded until Air Force officials clear the jets to fly.

In Afghanistan, where F-15Es take off from Bagram Air Base, the restriction means that F-15Es sit on combat alert status but are not assigned to pre-planned or on-call missions, according to Central Air Forces.

The restriction arrived at a bad time.

During the summer, A-10 Thunderbolts had been based at Bagram, but airmen brought them home in mid-October, so the F-15Es are the only U.S. fighters on the Bagram ramp.

On Monday French Mirage 2000 and F-1 CR fighters were summoned for two air strikes and more shows of force above enemy positions. Also, an American B-1B Lancer bomber struck a target.

Other fighters potentially able fly Afghanistan missions include British GR-7 Harriers and U.S. Navy jets from the aircraft carrier Enterprise now in the Persian Gulf for exercises.

Lt. Gen. Gary North, who oversees coalition air operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, said the U.S. and its allies would continue to maintain 24-hour coverage of Afghanistan. “This is our continual task: to have airpower overhead ... ,” North said Monday in a statement.

"It is important to remember, in the F-15E, that not all F-15s are created equal," said DoD spokesman Bryan Whitman in a statement released Tuesday. "It is a family of aircraft built over a long period of time; some earlier models have been in service a lot longer than F-15Es."

Japan has also grounded its F-15s following the U.S. crash, Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba said Nov. 6.

As of Tuesday, there was no word from the Air Force how long the F-15 flight restrictions will remain in place.

The crash happened during training Friday morning.

The unidentified pilot safely ejected. He sustained a dislocated shoulder, a broken arm and minor cuts and bruises. He was released from the hospital the day after the crash.

“Preliminary findings indicate that a possible structural failure of the aircraft may have occurred,” the Air Force said Saturday.

The Missouri Air National Guard jet involved in last week’s crash was flying a dog fight scenario against another F-15 and would not have been expected to surpass 450 mph, Col. Robert Leeker, commander of the 131st Fighter Wing in St. Louis, told reporters.

Leeker declined to speculate on what caused the accident. The two dog fighting jets did not touch, he added.

Air Force spokesmen said an investigation team arrived at the rural crash scene near Boss, Mo. about 90 miles southwest of St. Louis, Monday to start inspection of the wreckage and determine what led the Eagle to break up in flight.

Typically, when entire fleets of aircraft are grounded, maintainers are told to check aircraft for a specific problem. If the inspection finds no hazard, the plane can return to flight.

The investigative team from the Air Force Safety Center has about one month to complete its confidential inquiry and brief Air Force leaders.

A separate accident investigation board overseen by Air Combat Command could take two to three months to complete its work. The results will eventually be made public.

The last F-15 crash blamed on a major structural failure was in 2002 when an F-15 on a test mission over the Gulf of Mexico crashed after the left rear vertical tail fin broke apart while the jet was flying twice the speed of sound. The pilot died.

In the aftermath of that accident, the Air Force began replacing tail fin components and restricted F-15s from flying some extreme maneuvers on routine training and test flights.

Among recent F-15 accidents, most were the result of engine problems, bird strikes or pilot mistakes.

One exception was on May 30 and also involved a Missouri Air National Guard F-15. In that case, investigators concluded the jet became uncontrollable because a cable linking the cockpit with the rear aileron rudder jammed, making the jet virtually unrecoverable and forcing the pilot to bail out. The investigation determined the cable was correctly installed and maintained.

In accidents that did not result in crashes, F-15s have twice lost their canopies while in flight over the past 2 1/2 years. In both incidents, the pilots were able to land their jets. While the Air Force in October told maintainers to conduct a one-time inspection of canopies and locking systems, there was no fleet-wide grounding of the jets.

The grounding announcement comes at the same time Air Force leaders continue to press Congress for more F-22A Raptors, the stealth jet replacing the F-15 Eagle at many bases, and permission to retire a host of older bombers, tankers and transports.

The U.S. Air Force’s F-15 fleet includes 522 F-15C Eagles and 217 F-15E Strike Eagles, according to the service. F-15 Eagles began operations in 1975 while F-15Es, the two-seat bomber version of the jet, joined the fleet in 1988.