Bunch Jr., Commander of Air Force Materiel Command.
“I commend the dedicated efforts of the entire team for bringing this platform online in record time and in the middle of a global pandemic,” said Gen. “I’m extremely proud of the Team, to include members of the Propulsion Directorate, Simulators Program Office, Air Combat Command, Air National Guard, Air Force Materiel Command, Defense Contract Management Agency, the Air Staff, and our industry partners for achieving this first aircraft delivery milestone.” “It has taken a team effort to get to this point,” added Dorey. From there, the directorate’s F-15 Program Office developed the acquisition strategy, awarded the contract, conducted design and verification reviews, and worked with Boeing to manufacture and test the aircraft in record time. David Goldfein, then Chief of Staff of the US Air Force signed the F-15EX Rapid Fielding Requirement Document to address readiness issues with an aging F-15 fleet. The process to acquire the F-15EX aircraft started in February of 2019, when Gen. Even with the F-15E, the US Air Force resorted to creativity and struck a deal to recycle wings from Saudi Air Force F-15S fighters as part of its efforts to keep the F-15E in the air through 2040.
The air force says the F‑15EX provides a cost-effective and expedient solution to refresh the F‑15C/D fleet and augment the F-15E fleet to meet National Defense Strategy capability and capacity requirements. Dorey noted that the aircraft is capable of carrying hypersonic weapons, “giving it a niche role in future near-peer conflicts.”Īt an average age of over 37 years, the F-15C/D fleet is fast approaching the end of its useful life and operating on the margins of structural integrity. “With its large weapons capacity, digital backbone, and open architecture, the F-15EX will be a key element of our tactical fighter fleet and complement 5th-generation assets.”Ĭol. Sean Dorey, F-15EX program manager with the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center’s Fighters and Advanced Aircraft Directorate. “This is a big moment for the Air Force,” said Col. The Air Force plans to acquire 144 F-15EXs from Boeing, to replace F-15C/D models and refresh the F-15 fleet. It also the Eagle Passive/Active Warning and Survivability System, an electronic warfare upgrade that is also being fielded on F-15E models. The new fighter is a two-seat aircraft-though operable by a single pilot-with fly-by-wire flight controls, digital cockpit displays, and advanced avionics systems. A second F-15EX will be delivered to Eglin by the end of April 2021. The first lot of eight aircraft will cost $1.2 billion, with the entire run of 144 planes expected to cost no more than $23 billion.Following its acceptance, the new aircraft was flown to Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. The Defense Department considered buying additional F-35 jets, but with the entire cost of that program expected to hit $1.5 trillion, it instead decided on the F-15EX as the more budget-conscious option. With some of those planes becoming safety risks to their pilots, the Air Force needed to either retrofit them or replace them with new ones. The F-15EX will replace the Air Force’s aging F-15C and D aircraft, many of which have been in service for more than 35 years.
Boeing will deliver the first two F-15EX planes to the Air Force by the end of March. It features fly-by-wire flight controls, an all-digital cockpit powered by an ADCP-II mission computer, and most important to the Air Force, a “digital backbone” that will allow it to upgrade it with new technologies as needed. It might look like the F-15 planes the Air Force has been flying for decades, but in a lot of ways, it’s a more modern fighter jet. This week, Boeing’s F-15EX fighter jet successfully completed its first-ever test flight.
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