NASA recently built a new engine thrust stand at its Armstrong facility located at the northern edge of Edwards AFB. It can hold back 60,000 pounds, allowing crews to do engine runs on F-15 and F/A-18s with both engines running at full power simultaneously, including F-15B #836, the oldest serving Eagle in the US inventory.
The F-15B packs a pair of Pratt & Whitney F100-PW-100 turbofans that punch out about 24,000lbs of thrust each. With both engines in full burner the jet can gulp a bewildering 385 gallons of fuel per per minute.
Also of interest is that NASA’s F-15B wears streamlined covers over its ‘turkey feather’ exhausts, a feature that was deleted early on by the USAF due to shedding and maintenance. The addition of turkey feather covers gives the F-15 a few more percentage points in aerodynamic performance.
Regardless of the metrics and details, watching a an F-15 in full blower at sunset is just a marvelous sight to behold (for our mobile users here is a link directly to the facebook post):
Photo of F-15 #836 via NASA
Tyler Rogoway is a defense journalist and photographer who maintains the website Foxtrot Alpha for Jalopnik.com You can reach Tyler with story ideas or direct comments regarding this or any other defense topic via the email address Tyler@Jalopnik.com