The Air Force has returned nearly 700 F-15 fighter jets to service after a Nov. 2 crash grounded the fleet.

Although the Missouri Air National Guard pilot was not killed, the military ordered the fleet of planes, made by Boeing Co., grounded a day later on "airworthiness concerns."

After completing safety inspections on more than 500 of the F-15s, the Air Force said Wednesday the fleet could be returned to service.

F-15s are based on the Mainland and in Alaska, Britain, Hawai'i, Japan and the Middle East. The 199th Fighter Squadron of the Hawai'i Air National Guard has 18 of the twin-tail fighters, which are primarily used for air defense of the state.

Capt. Jeff Hickman, a spokesman for the Hawai'i National Guard, previously said the 199th Fighter Squadron was approaching a record 80,000 hours of accident-free flying in the F-15 when the aircraft were grounded.

The 63-foot-long F-15s in Hawai'i were deployed to Iraq in 2000 for no-fly-zone duty and patrolled the skies above Honolulu after the 9/11 attacks.

The aircraft will be replaced by F-22A Raptors with stealth technology starting in late 2011.

Industry experts and the Air Force are working with a federal plane crash investigation board to determine what caused the Missouri Air Guard F-15 to go down, said Air Force Combat Gen. John Corley in a Nov. 21 memo to F-15 pilots.

The plane went down during a training exercise near Salem City. Corley asked pilots to "remain vigilant" to mitigate any unknown risks as the fleet returns to service.

The Air Force is seeking to replace aging F-15s, some more than 30 years old, with the F-22 Raptor. The latest version of the F-15 is being used in operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Non-combat but critical-mission flights were flown on Lockheed's F-16s while the F-15 fleet was grounded.

The F-15 was first manufactured by McDonnell-Douglas, which was purchased by Boeing 10 years ago. Boeing delivered its last military F-15 to the Air Force in late 2004, but still manufactures the aircraft for non-military customers.

Shares of Boeing added $2.13, or 2.4 percent, to close at $89.54 on Friday's holiday-shortened session.