F-15EX vs. F-35A
May 2019
John A. Tirpak
Editorial Director
Two jets from different eras, with different missions, strengths, and weaknesses, face off in a battle for today’s funds.
The F-35 Lightning has been the Air Force’s sole new fighter program since 2009, when the F-22 Raptor program was prematurely terminated. While behind schedule, the program has been a top Air Force priority for more than a decade and until recently, was expected to remain USAF’s only fighter program until a future capability, still undefined, comes online.
Now the F-35 faces a new challenge from an old jet design, a variant of the F-15 Strike Eagle; an airplane from an earlier era, built for a different mission. Though the Air Force denies it, the two jets are competing for inevitably limited dollars within the service’s fighter portfolio.
http://www.airforcemag.com/MagazineArchive/Pages/2019/May%202019/F-15EX-vs-F-35A-.aspx
