The F-15E is an awesome bird. However, in a real crunch when you need CAS, most of the guys are worthless. When a target goes bad and you immediately clear the Es inbound for guns, I got "We just use those for air-to-air". Really, that's not what your 100 slide capabilities brief said. Been much 1 V 1 around these parts the last 6 years?Would've been nice to know before hand.
Well, I've gotta clear the air a little here.
The gun in the F-15E is canted upward 2 degrees. It was designed that way for air-to-air gunnery where your target is usually above you. That's a system limitation that we can't control.
The upcant is a problem when you want to point that gun at the dirt, because your flight path has to be steeper than the angle which the gun is pointing. Compounding that problem is our speed, and the need to shoot from a close-ish range that gives the bullet the end-game energy it needs to fuze and penetrate. The combination of these three factors -- gun upcant, high speed on the pass, and need for close firing slant-ranges -- require a high degree of precision to pull off correctly, else we end up planting ourselves in the dirt.
It's a cultural issue, too -- you're right about that. When I went through the basic upgrade course 10 years ago, I was told by my instructors, "The F-15E will never strafe." Sure enough, in 2002 an ex-Hog pilot flying an F-15E happened to be on station over Roberts Ridge, and had to whip out the gun in order to keep some Rangers alive. Ever since then, the F-15E community has worked to change strafe from a contingency into a primary weapon. Today it is a bread-and-butter weapon that most pilots should be comfortable employing.
Now, if in 2007 or 2008 you have F-15E guys telling you that they only use the gun for air-to-air, and say they are unable to use it in a CAS scenario, that's a load of crapola. My squadron strafed more 20mm last summer in Afghanistan than the entire US military combined strafed in both OEF and OIF (over 25,000 rounds). You're right that it probably varies from squadron-to-squadron. There is still leadership who is literally gun-shy about using the pistol because it is a challenging weapon for us to employ. Those opinions are few and far between these days, fortunately.
I apologize for my community if a F-15E squadron you have been working with fails to be able to use the gun in a timely and effective manner. That's UNSAT in my book, and makes my airframe look bad.
