RAF buys F-15Cs. Can they be used in the Falklands War?

[Riain]

I know it's outside the scope of the thread coming into service around twelve years after than the original F-15A but does anyone happen to have handy what the F-15E's endurance is? Thanks.

F111 internal fuel capacity was ~33,000lbs. The F15E with CFT is ~23,000lbs and the Tornado is ~11,000lbs.

These are different aircraft, the tornado is a very efficient aircraft, but that gives a bit of an idea of what's possible.

 

[Riain]

Throwing a spanner in the works . . . would building an airstrip on St Helena or Tristan de Cunha help like they did in San Carlos help?

Much obliged!

Only for Harriers. Sids Strip was only 260m/850' long, a fraction of the 4,100' Port Stanley runway which was too short for fast jets.

Apparently there was some talk of building a Harrier strip on South Georgia, but the war moved on I suppose.

 

[alfredtuomi]

Throwing a spanner in the works . . . would building an airstrip on St Helena or Tristan de Cunha help like they did in San Carlos help?

Much obliged!

There was no airport at St helena at the time so start from scratch.The one there now has major issues with wind shear.

 

[Riain]

There was no airport at St helena at the time so start from scratch.The one there now has major issues with wind shear.

It's still 3,750 miles from St Helena to Stanley, better than 3,900 miles but not nearly enough to make the effort worthwhile.

Tristan da Cunha is 2,400 miles from Stanley, but even worse than St Helena for building an airport.

South Georgia is 900 miles from Stanley, close enough for tanker supported Phantoms to fly CAPs over the Falklands if a full-sized, all-weather runway was built at the edge of Antarctica in the weeks between its recapture in late April and the end of the war in mid June.

 

[Simon]

F-111 internal fuel capacity was ~33,000 lbs, the F-15E with CFT is ~23,000 lbs, and the Tornado is ~11,000 lbs.

I meant endurance in terms of hours. If I'm reading the lbf·h for its two engines correctly – not a given – it has an endurance of two hours and a bit, since the Tornado ADV had an endurance of two hours at a range of 400 miles from base looks like it couldn't do the job.