Originally Posted by
Courtney Mil
Thanks for posting that. It makes me wonder why they even want to go for full digital in a jet that was designed, aerodynamically, to be hyd/mech/elec. I can't think what advantage FBW will bring to a stable, but agile, jet. Any ideas anyone?
I believe this is part of the answer and it appears to be more about yaw stability in rolling maneuvers with the outer wing stations asymmetrically loaded:
However, Saudi Arabia's 84 F-15SAs on order will have its two outer wing weapons stations activated, making it necessary to implement a fly-by-wire flight control system.
"The main benefit for the fly-by-wire system is to compensate for the stability differences induced by carrying weapons in the one and nine stations - not used to date on any F-15 platform," the USAF says.
I know that the F-15C has ballast in the nose to ensure stability (it was removed, under waiver, for some of the early airshows performed by the company pilots). I’m not sure about the F-15E, but the F-B-W may allow more pitch rate with a more aft CG.