The system that NASA developed on the F-15 to investigate and demonstrate methods of obtaining optimum aircraft performance was called HIDEC -- Highly Integrated Digital Electronic Control.

The major elements of HIDEC were a Digital Electronic Flight Control System (DEFCS), a Digital Electronic Engine Control (DEEC), an on-board general purpose computer, and an integrated architecture to allow all components to "talk to each other."

Unlike standard F-15s, which have a mechanical and analog electronic flight control system, the HIDEC F-15 also had a dual-channel, fail-safe digital flight control system programmed in Pascal. It was linked to the Military Standard 1553B and a H009 data bus which tied all other electronic systems together. The HIDEC aircraft was originally built as the number eight F-15A prototype (Serial #71-0287).