The F-15E is now in the back half of its career, with the retirement of half the fleet looming on the horizon, but the jet is more potent now than ever before. A case in point was the remarkably successful aerial wall F-15Es put up during Iran’s unprecedented long-range barrage on Israel. During that event, which left hundreds of weapons fired by Iranian forces neutralized, U.S. Air Force F-15Es swatted down over 70 Iranian kamikaze drones in just a matter of hours. Not only was the feat a reminder of how valuable the Strike Eagle, with its two-crew concept of operations, remains to be, but it also served as a warning of just how important this kind of counter-drone operation will be in future conflicts against far better-equipped enemies than Iran.
With all that in mind, and as we have done before with our “Balloon Hunt” t-shirts, we set out with our friends over at Blipshift.com to commemorate this important moment in air combat history by throwing it back to one of the most popular arcade games of all time — a game that is peculiarly similar in concept to what America’s ‘Mud Hen’ crews faced on that very eventful night back in April. Instead of a block of alien spaceships slowly scrolling toward your starfighter, the F-15E crews faced waves of Iranian suicide drones. With a finite amount of weapons onboard, the Strike Eagle crews had to juggle limited resources against a plethora of threats all compressed by time, just as any great Galaga player would.
Our new “Drone Hunter” t-shirts depict an F-15E facing down a wall of pixelated Iranian kamikaze drone types, with backup ‘lives’ to the bottom left and missiles available to the right in true Galaga style. The Strike Eagle’s historic drone-killing score is prominently displayed just where it should be, up top and center. Above it is our take on the iconic Galaga logo.
Like all our designs and Strike Eagle itself, they strike suddenly and are gone in a blink. Grab one of these babies while you can, in twelve days they will be gone!
Jump over to Blipshift.com and plunk down $25 for one by clicking here.
Options such as long sleeves and additional fabric choices are available by clicking the drop-down menu at the link.
Happy hunting!
Contact the author: tyler@twz.com