Boeing F-15 Silent Eagle Demonstrator Makes 1st Flight: "The Boeing Company Silent Eagle flight demonstrator aircraft F-15E1 completed a successful first flight on July 8 from Lambert St. Louis International Airport.
During the 80-minute flight, F-15E1 opened and closed its left-side Conformal Weapons Bay, which contained an AIM-120 Instrumented Test Vehicle (ITV) missile. The ITV was not launched.
'The Silent Eagle demonstration flight validated our initial engineering design approach,' said Boeing F-15 Development Programs Director Brad Jones.
'Our intent was to verify all systems are operational in a flight environment. This flawless flight allows us to move into the next phase. In the next couple of weeks, we will ferry F-15E1 to the test range and launch an AIM-120.'"
