The Boeing (formerly McDonnell Douglas) F-15 Eagle is today still one of the world's most formidable interceptor fighters. Although largely designed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, it still remains the primary air-superiority fighter serving with the USAF, and will remain so well into the first decade of the 21st century. In addition to service with the United States, the F-15 is also utilized by the air forces of South Korea, Singapore, Israel, Saudi Arabia and Japan.

As of 2005, the F-15 family of aircraft has a perfect air-combat record of more than 100 victories and zero defeats. F-15s downed four MiG-29 fighters during the Balkan conflict and 33 of the 35 fixed-wing aircraft Iraq lost in air combat during Operation Desert Storm. During the Balkan conflict, the F-15E was the only fighter able to attack ground targets around the clock, in all weather conditions.

In June-July of 1975, Japanese officers carried out two flight evaluations of the F-15A/B Eagle at Edwards AFB. In December of 1977, the Japanese National Defense Council announced that the Eagle had been selected to supplement and eventually replace the Lockheed F-104J Starfighters serving with the Nihon Koku Jietai (Japanese Air Self Defense Force, or JASDF). A license was acquired for manufacture of the F-15 in Japan, with Mitsubishi being selected as the prime contractor. So far Japan is the only nation to build the F-15 Eagle under license. The Japanese Eagle is designated F-15J, with the two-seat version being F-15DJ. They are the Japanese counterparts of the F-15A and B respectively.

The first F-15s for the JASDF (two single seaters and 12 two-seaters) were built in St Louis by McDonnell under Project Peace Eagle. The the manufacturing of the F-15Js was then transfered to be done in Japan by Mitsubishi at its plant in Komaki. A similar sort of arrangement had been worked out for license manufacture in Japan of the Eagle's predecessor, the F-4 Phantom.