State of the Art Technology
The F-15 is a powerful plane, and it is still being used by the military today, because of its great maneuverability and accuracy during combat. It was most recently and successfully used during combat in the Persian Gulf crisis of Desert Storm. Today it still remains the number one premier air superiority fighter, putting it in an elite class. The F-15 is comparable to the legendary fighter planes of the past such as the P-51 Mustang, the F-86 Sabre, and the F-4 Phantom. The United States allies recognize the value of the F-15 Eagle today, and it is the primary air superiority aircraft in the air forces of Japan, Saudi Arabia, and Israel.
Even during the development of the F-15 there was pressure to create an even smaller aircraft intended as a low cost alternative to the 20- million-dollar F-15 Eagle, and that aircraft was the F-16. The F-16, Fighting Falcon, was created as the "swing-force" fighter, because it could perform air-to-ground missions as well as it’s primary usage in air-to-air combat. It is a light weight fighter plane which is still in use today. It is used widely by Denmark, Belgium, Norway, the Netherlands, Egypt, Israel, South Korea, Singapore, Thailand, Turkey, and Venezuela.
No matter how current a fighter plane is, and no matter how many improvements are made, eventually its time comes to an end, and it is replaced. The F-15 and the F-16 remain the best fighter aircrafts in the world at this time, although work is being done on their replacement, the F-22. will The F-22 be a tremendous fighter aircraft with the use of thrust-vectoring, which is a concept made feasible by tests done on the F-15.
F-22 picture from: