On Tuesday, a Boeing-led industry team officially delivered a second F-15EX air superiority fighter aircraft to the U.S. Air Force earlier than the contract requirement. The result of a collaboration across industry, the U.S. Air Force and the Air National Guard, the F-15EX is a ready-now replacement for the F-15C that includes best-in-class payload, range and speed and an all-new digital infrastructure.
“Moving from contract award to delivery in a matter of months enables the U.S. Air Force to get a head start on flight testing and demonstrates our commitment to exceeding expectations,” said Prat Kumar, Boeing vice president and F-15 program manager. “Along with state-of-the-art avionics and survivability suite, the new F-15EX includes almost 3 miles of high-speed digital data bus to enable open architecture, which will keep it evolving ahead of threats for decades. Delivering the F-15EX to defend our freedom is a source of intense pride for the Boeing and industry team.
The second F-15EX air superiority fighter aircraft arrived at Eglin Air Force Base to begin testing with the first EX that was delivered last month. In July 2020, the U.S. Air Force awarded Boeing an Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity contract for up to 200 F-15EXs to replace the undefeated but aging F-15C. The Air Force has announced initial basing locations in Florida and Oregon.
The F-15EX is a ready-now replacement for the F-15C that includes best-in-class payload, range and speed. Designed to deliver value to the U.S. Air Force, the F-15EX will be a backbone fighter for the service – not just today, but for the next several decades. Boeing engineers created hundreds of digital aircraft before cutting any metal, and flew thousands of hours before our first test flight. The result is an aircraft with a digital backbone, open system architecture and the capacity to carry hypersonic weapons, making it a key element of the U.S. Air Force’s tactical fighter fleet.
