Air Force grounds "non critical" F-15 flights

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Air Force said it has grounded most of its 700 plus Boeing Co F-15 tactical fighter aircraft in response to the crash of a Missouri Air National Guard F-15C on November 2.

All "non-mission" critical flight operations have been suspended indefinitely, an Air Force statement said Sunday.

Fighters like Lockheed Martin Corp's F-16 are taking up the slack, said Jennifer Bentley, an Air Force spokeswoman.

The F-15, which entered operations in September 1975, is designed to shoot down enemy aircraft over a battlefield.

"As the transition is taking place, the F-15 may still fly under a mandatory scramble order," the Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado-headquartered North American Aerospace Defense Command said in a statement put out by the Air Force.

Bentley had no immediate word on whether foreign F-15 operators had been advised to take precautions. Also flying F-15s are South Korea, Singapore, Japan, Singapore and Israel.

Boeing said it offered to help the Air Force as it investigates the crash of the single-seat Missouri Air National Guard F-15C Eagle fighter on a training mission. The pilot ejected before the crash.

"A recommendation to overseas F-15 users would be the USAF's decision to make," Patricia Frost, a Boeing spokesman, said in an e-mail, using the abbreviation for the U.S. Air Force.

(Reporting by Jim Wolf, Editing by Gerald E. McCormick)