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        Policy UpdatesNewsroomReoptimizationBIOGRAPHIESAF Senior Leaders      The F-15 Eagle is an all-weather, extremely maneuverable, tactical fighter designed to permit the Air Force to gain and maintain air supremacy over the battlefield. The F-15’s air superiority is achieved through a mixture of unprecedented maneuverability and acceleration, range, weapons and avionics. (U.S. Air Force video by Staff Sgt. River Bruce)
                
                
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        F-15 flying over Nevada Test and Training RangeAn F-15C Eagle flies over the Nevada Test and Training Range during its final defensive counter air vulnerability as part of Weapons School Integration 21-B at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., Dec. 8, 2021. As the Air Force continues to modernize, this class marks the final F-15C Weapons Instructor Course to be taught at the United States Air Force Weapons School. (U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Alexandre Montes)
                
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        F-15 refueling over Nevada Test and Training RangeAn F-15C Eagle from the 433rd Weapons Squadron approaches a KC-135 Stratotanker from the 509th Weapons Squadron to refuel during Weapons School Integration over the Nevada Test and Training Range, Dec. 8, 2021. WSINT is a capstone exercise during the Weapons Instructor Course where undergraduates integrate in defensive counter air sorties. (U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Alexandre Montes)
                
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        An F-15C Eagle takes off to conduct its final defensive counter air vul during Weapons School Integration 21-B at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., Dec. 8, 2021. As the Air Force continues to modernize, this class marks the final F-15C Weapons Instructor Course to be taught at the United States Air Force Weapons School.F-15C Eagle Weapons School sunsets at Nellis
                        
                        
                        An F-15C Eagle takes off to conduct its final defensive counter air vul during Weapons School Integration 21-B at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., Dec. 8, 2021. As the Air Force continues to modernize, this class marks the final F-15C Weapons Instructor Course to be taught at the United States Air Force Weapons School. (U.S. Air Force photo)
                
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        Airman holding chocks standing next to F-15C on rampAn Airman stands by after removing the chocks from an F-15C Eagle as it prepares to take off to conduct its final defensive counter air vulnerability during Weapons School Integration 21-B at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., Dec. 8, 2021. (U.S. Air Force photo by William R. Lewis)
                
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F-15C Eagle Weapons School ends at Nellis AFBPublished Dec. 31, 2021
                    
                    By Christie Vanover
                    
                    
                    57th Wing Public Affairs
            **NELLIS AIR FORCE BASE, Nev. (AFNS) --**The United States Air Force is continuing to modernize its future fighter force, and part of that evolution includes the sunset of the F-15C Eagle division of the United States**Air Force Weapons School** Weapons Instructor Course.

The single-seat**F-15C Eagle** entered the U.S. Air Force inventory in 1979, and weapons officers have been trained on the aircraft’s tactics at the Weapons School at **Nellis Air Force Base** since 1978.

Those years of tradition came to an end Dec. 8, as the last cadre of students and instructors flew the final defensive counter air vulnerability for Weapons Instructor Course 21-B.

Airman holding chocks standing next to F-15C on rampAn Airman stands by after removing the chocks from an F-15C Eagle as it prepares to take off to conduct its final defensive counter air vulnerability during Weapons School Integration 21-B at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., Dec. 8, 2021. (U.S. Air Force photo by William R. Lewis)
            
            
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“I love the F-15C,” Cruz said. “We always brag about the record of 104-to-zero and that is predominately based on the fact that we have the air superiority fighter. I don’t want it to die, but we have to move on, because if we continue to rest on our laurels, it’s going to make the fight that much harder for us.”
Cruz said he took a different approach when teaching this last iteration of students, because as the students transition, they will likely be in their jobs a bit longer since there will be no subsequent students to replace them.

“We spent a little bit more time on the critical thinking concept rather than finessing the individual Eagle execution that they should already know. We had to think about how we as the Weapons School think about problems, so that when the graduates go out into the Combat Air Force, they can think about the problems in the same manner,” he said.

"I don’t want it to die, but we have to move on, because if we continue to rest on our laurels, it’s going to make the fight that much harder for us."Maj. Rodolfo Cruz, 433rd Weapons Squadron director of operations
Maj. Michael Tope, WIC 21-B F-15C class leader, said he and his fellow F-15C WPS graduates are prepared to take on the new leadership role as the airframe’s last Weapons School graduates.

An F-15C Eagle takes off to conduct its final defensive counter air vul during Weapons School Integration 21-B at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., Dec. 8, 2021. As the Air Force continues to modernize, this class marks the final F-15C Weapons Instructor Course to be taught at the United States Air Force Weapons School.An F-15C Eagle takes off to conduct its final defensive counter air vul during Weapons School Integration 21-B at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., Dec. 8, 2021. As the Air Force continues to modernize, this class marks the final F-15C Weapons Instructor Course to be taught at the United States Air Force Weapons School. (U.S. Air Force photo)
            
            
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“The F-15 has some advances, but it’s still the F-15 from the 1970s in a lot of ways,” he added. “That speaks to the capabilities of the maintainers and the people who have worked on the jets, as well as the instructors who have developed different tactics.”

At the Air Force Association’s annual Air, Space & Cyber Conference in September,**Gen. Mark Kelly**, commander of **Air Combat Command**, discussed the Air Force’s future fighter roadmap.

“We must move the Air Force from seven different platforms toward four plus one,” Kelly said at the conference. “We must keep the**F-22** (Raptor) dominant for air superiority in a highly contested environment and facilitate a hot handover with our Next Generation Air Dominance capability.”

He said the**F-35 Lightning II** will be the cornerstone of the contested environment force, with the **F-15E Strike Eagle** and EX providing the big range, big weapons and disruptive fifth-generation avionics and sensors to complement the F-35. The newest **F-16 Fighting Falcons** will remain an affordable capacity fighter, and the **A-10 Thunderbolt IIs** will be the “plus one.”

F-15 flying over Nevada Test and Training RangeAn F-15C Eagle flies over the Nevada Test and Training Range during its final defensive counter air vulnerability as part of Weapons School Integration 21-B at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., Dec. 8, 2021. As the Air Force continues to modernize, this class marks the final F-15C Weapons Instructor Course to be taught at the United States Air Force Weapons School. (U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Alexandre Montes)
            
            
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                Download Hi-Res**Eglin AFB**, Florida for test missions. Others will be sent to a depot for refurbishing or to a **boneyard** in Arizona.

Following WPS 21-B, Eagle AMU will deactivate, and maintainers will be assigned locally or will be relocated to meet the needs of the Air Force. Cruz and several other F-15C instructors plan to transition to the Air National Guard, while Tope is going to Eglin AFB to work with the F-15EX test and evaluation program.

As the F-15C program ends at Nellis AFB,**the F-15EX fighter program** will continue to make advancements. Operational test missions were conducted at Nellis AFB in October and additional testing is anticipated at the base in the future.

“It’s hard for us to forecast what the next fight is going to be like but we can anticipate that it’s not going to be like the fights we had in the past,” Cruz said. “When we talk about air superiority and air dominance, we don’t want to associate that with one airframe or two airframes. It’s going to be something more unconventional.”LR 



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