The Singaporean Air Force's F-15E Strike Fighters Perform at the Country's National Day Celebrations

Singapore remains one of only six countries to operate U.S. made F-15E Strike Eagle, a fighter bomber variant of the F-15 Eagle air superiority fighter. While the F-15 was conceived during the Vietnam War as an answer to Soviet MiG-21 and MiG-23 fighters, and as of 2017 has seen 41 years of service as an air superiority fighter, its strike variant was designed primarily as a long range air to ground platform without the air superiority capabilities of the more specialised original variants. While sales of the F-15A and F-15C air superiority fighters are restricted to the United States' three most critical military partners, Israel, Japan and Saudi Arabia, the F-15E has been sold more widely to states such as Singapore, Qatar and South Korea - and has been offered for export to many others.

Singapore retains a fleet of 40 F-15E fighters, the F-15SG variant, and these fighters demonstrated their manoeuvrability and speed to the public on the country's National Day in 2017. Of all the F-15 operators, Singapore's fleet may well be the least likely to see actual combat given the nature of the country's relations with its neighbours. They nevertheless find themselves increasingly outmatched by the air to air combat capabilities of neighbouring states - with Indonesia contracting a small fleet of Russian Su-35 supermaneuverable air superiority fighters with capabilities superior to even the F-15C. Malaysia too, an operator of the Su-30, maintains a significant qualitative advantage over its neighbour in air to air combat - with the Su-30 serving as a dedicated air superiority platform where Singapore's fighter is a far bulkier strike platform with relatively limited air to air combat capabilities. While the F-15E remains a highly capable strike fighter, with Singapore relying heavily on U.S. arms and unable to purchase U.S. air superiority fighters equivalent to the Russian platforms in the hands of its neighbours it faces an increasingly unfavourable balance of power in the air.