Everything You Need to Know About the Air Force's New F-15EX

[rangerrebew]

 


Everything You Need to Know About the Air Force's New F-15EX
 
Military.com | By Blake Stilwell

The Pentagon is set to buy the first of Boeing's new fourth-gen plus F-15EX fighters. The new purchase will cost the government $1.1 billion for eight of the new aircraft, with more buys to come in later years.

For those wondering why the Air Force would opt to buy an upgraded version of an older fighter instead of more modern, stealth fighters like the F-35, you aren't alone. Even the Air Force was surprised to find out it was getting the F-15EX, let alone 144 of them. Eventually, the F-15EX will replace the aging F-15C/D, and those aircraft will be decommissioned.

The Air Force currently flies 235 aging F-15C/Ds that were in line to either be decommissioned or upgraded. Instead of spending money on those, the Air Force will simply buy newer models.

https://www.military.com/equipment/military-aircraft/everything-you-need-know-about-air-forces-new-f-15ex.html

[PeteS in CA]

Even though the F-15 first appeared in the mid-1970s, today's F-15 is a lot more advanced than the ones first delivered to the USAF in 1974.

The Eagles of today have stronger airframes, more powerful processors and advanced flight control systems than any the Air Force still flies, according to the Congressional Research Service (CRS). What's new to the F-15EX is an advanced radar and other subsystems that other countries' Eagles don't get. About 30% of the American F-15EX would be unique to the U.S. military, they note.

According to Air Force Magazine, "The new airplanes would have a substantially more powerful mission computer, new cockpit displays, a digital backbone, and the Eagle Passive Active Warning Survivability System (EPAWSS) -- an electronic warfare and threat identification system."

By way of perspective, the Intel 8080 microprocessor (uP) was a new "thing" back in the mid 1970s. While current Intel uPs are descendants of the 8080, they are beyond vastly more powerful.