Hey Everyone, Zerø here. Thanks for Platinum! In return, I give you a livery of my own, in an aircraft I truly adore.

Thanks for the 25000 useless internet points.
They might be useless but they sure do give you dopamine.

Introduction:

The Boeing F-15EX Eagle II is the latest and most cutting edge variant of the McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle, an american twin engined, air superiority fighter that has served the airforce for more than 50 years. It's also known for it's reliability in combat, having 104 confirmed kill to 0 confirmed losses. Both the F-15E and F-15EX expanded the F-15s capability into a multirole aircraft. And it's good.

History:

The McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle was introduced to the USAF during the 1970s to replace the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom. Unlike the F-4 however, the F-15 was designed with little to no consideration for air-to-ground operations. The F-15 Special Project Office rejected the idea of a multirole F-15, giving rise to the phrase "Not a pound for air to ground". McDonnell Douglas however, had other plans. They secretly worked on a project that would turn the F-15 into a multirole fighter. This was studied later in 1978 by the USAF, and it proved to be a capable future strike aircraft for the USAF. Together with Hughes, McDonnell Douglas started to develop the multirole F-15. The first test flight occured in 8th of July 1978, primarily to test the F-15s new conformal fuel tank (CFT) designated as the FAST Pack (which stood for "Fuel And Sensor, Tactical). The aircraft used in testing was the second TF-15A made, AF serial number 71-0291.

March of 1981 rolled around, and the USAF decided that the F-111 wasn't a good enough strike platform. So they announced the Enhanced Tactical Fighter program (later renamed to Dual-Role Fighter competition) to replace the F-111. There were three candidates. The General Dynamics' derived variant of the F-16 Fighting Falcon, the F-16XL, the European Panavia Tornado, and the McDonnell Douglas' derived variant of the F-15 Eagle, F-15E Strike Eagle. The Panavia Tornado wasn't seriously considered, as it lacked in air-to-air capabilities at the time, and Americans being Americans, they didn't really want an export. So the real competition was between the F-16XL and the F-15E. The F-16XL was promising for the future of the airforce due to it's cranked delta wing design, greatly enhancing it's performance. However, the USAF chose the F-15E, believing that it might be cheaper and more reliable to produce and might even have more potential than the F-16XL. It was accepted into service in April of 1988.

The F-15E proved to be reliable in combat during the Gulf War, only losing 2 aircrafts to a ground fire. It also is the only aircraft to ever have a confirmed air to air kill with a guided bomb.

Boeing, now taking over McDonnell Douglas' legacy, announced in 2018 that a new and improved variant of the F-15E, the F-15EX Eagle II, which is sought to replace the aging fleet of F-15C Eagles in the USAF inventory. The F-15EX shared many similar design choices to the F-15E, such as the tandem two-seat, the FAST Pack, and the improved air-to-ground capability. The F-15EX, unlike it's predecessors uses the General Electric F110-GE-129 engines, present in the Lockheed Martin F-16C Block 50 Fighting Falcons. It's airframe was also strengthened, such to the point where it reportedly could carry a maximum of 22 air-to-air missiles.

About Livery:

At this point I might even start to put liveries onto my aircrafts because they're fun to do.

Anyway, this is my livery. Yeah, I actually made my own livery. It was a pain to make, especially the camo. The livery itself was heavily inpired by none other than Galm 1, or "Cipher", an unnamed Ustian mercenary, and the protagonist of the game Ace Combat ZERO: The Belkan War. I could explain the tiny little bits of details if I want, but that takes too much effort and I'm just lazy as usual so skip.

Loadout:

• 1x M61A1 Vulcan
  A 6 barreled rotary cannon that can fire 20mm at a rate of 6000 rounds per minute.

• 6x AIM-120D AMRAAM
  A state-of-the-art American BVR air-to-air missile, the latest iteration of the AIM-120 Advanced Medium Ranged Air-to-Air Missile series, capable of reaching ranges above 80 nautical miles.

• 2x AIM-9X Sidewinder
  A state-of-the-art American short-ranged heatseeking missile, the latest iteration of the ever reliable AIM-9 Sidewinder series, equipped with thrust vectoring.

• 4x GBU-12 Paveway II
  One of the variants of the Paveway series of laser-guided bombs, equipped with a 500lb bomb, a perfect fit for taking out a group of small targets.

• 1x AN/AAQ-33 Sniper Advanced Targeting Pod (Static)
  An advanced targeting pod, employed in order to help guided air-to-ground munitions in it's guidance, as well as providing standoff capabilities for the aircraft.

• 1x AN/AAQ-13 Low Altitude Navigation and Targeting Infrared for Night (LANTIRN, Static)
  A navigation and targeting pod designed to be in use for the F-15E and F-16 fighter platforms. It helps pilots see in the dark, as well as guiding guided air-to-ground munitions in the dark.

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Controls & Features:

Controls:

Normal Controls.
Activate1: Drop Tanks
Activate2: Nose Wheel Steering
Activate3: Activate External Lighting
Activate4: Flaps Down
Activate5: Deploy Air Brakes

Features:

• Variable Intake Ramp! Does it affect flight performances? No. It looks cool though.
• Somewhat accurate Paveway. You can drop it at any time at any angle, and it would still track it's target. It's also got deploying fins.
• Refined flight characteristics over previous aircraft. I now realize my aircrafts handles like a brick. Now it's a bit better, but I still can't figure out what's causing the dutch roll during high alpha maneuvers.
• A custom-made self livery. It was a pain in the ass to make so I highly appreciate it if you do like it!
  

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Gallery:

Thanks again for Platinum. It honestly made me more motivated to make more planes, and experiment on new things. They might be worthless and useless, but they sure do give dopamine, like I said.

And with that, thank you for supporting my works for the past 1.4 years, I hope you enjoy this Platinum Special, and until next time...