Once The F-15C Is Retired, The U.S. Air Force Will No Longer Have A Dedicated Dogfighter In The Fleet

Over its 35-year career, the F-15C (here on a training mission over the Pacific Ocean) remains the air combat champ, with 104 victories and no losses. (USAF/ Master Sgt. Maurice Krause)

The Last Gunslinger -- Air & Space Smithsonian

The F-15C is the only dedicated dogfighter left in the U.S. military fleet. Why isn't the Air Force replacing it?

While driving through downtown Mountain Home, Idaho, on a gray February morning, I notice something troubling: Mountain Home has no mountains. Later I learn why. In the 1880s, the town was relocated. Its original site was an Overton trail stagecoach stop called Rattlesnake Station. A post office, a farmhouse, and a few clapboard structures were nestled in the foothills of the Sawtooth Range, where snowy peaks soar above 10,000 feet. The outpost served a gunslinging clientele of trappers, miners, and explorers, and, true to the romance of the American west, survival there required a will and an ability to fight. But in 1883, the Oregon Short Line railroad laid tracks seven miles southeast, on the Snake River Plateau. A more comfortable life beckoned, so the town moved. And that’s when Mountain Home lost its soul.

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My Comment: A sobering assessment on America's dominance in the air and the role that the F-15C has played. But the question that the article raises is a valid one .... If the F-15C is the only dedicated dogfighter left in the U.S. military fleet and it's effectiveness is well known .... why isn't the Air Force replacing it?

My answer is simple .... it's all about money and listing priorities. The priority right now is the F-35 .... and the money .... well .... we all know that there is not enough of that to go around.