---
title: "The Air Force is officially picking up its first new F-15 in nearly 20 years"
date: "2020-01-28"
modified: "2020-01-28"
authors:
  - name: "Jared Keller"
    job_title: "Former Managing Editor"
    link: "https://taskandpurpose.com/authors/jaredkeller/"
url: "https://taskandpurpose.com/news/air-force-f-15ex-presoliciation-notices/"
categories:
  - "Air Force"
  - "Aircraft"
  - "Around the World"
  - "Fighter Aircraft"
  - "Military Branches"
  - "News"
  - "Tech & Tactics"
  - "United States"
---

# The Air Force is officially picking up its first new F-15 in nearly 20 years

![](<https://taskandpurpose.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/22628689-1.jpg>)

It's been nearly 20 years since the most recent F-15 fighter jet rolled off an assembly line for the U.S. Air Force, and the service is officially looking to add a fresh variant of the aircraft to its inventory.

On Tuesday, a pair of [twin](<https://beta.sam.gov/opp/d4f28d4ee4da40e18b6e5ce7951e3221/view?keywords=%2522f-15ex%2522&sort=-modifiedDate&index=&is_active=true&page=1>)[pre-solicitation notices](<https://beta.sam.gov/opp/bb8dcafc4d984ad68c3764b28337fbd7/view?keywords=aflcmc&sort=-modifiedDate&index=&is_active=true&page=1>) posted to the U.S. government's contract opportunities hub announced the Air Force's intent to procure both [upgraded Boeing-made F-15EX fighters](<https://beta.sam.gov/opp/d4f28d4ee4da40e18b6e5ce7951e3221/view?keywords=%2522f-15ex%2522&sort=-modifiedDate&index=&is_active=true&page=1>) and [fresh General Electric F110 jet engines](<https://beta.sam.gov/opp/bb8dcafc4d984ad68c3764b28337fbd7/view?keywords=aflcmc&sort=-modifiedDate&index=&is_active=true&page=1>) associated with the new aircraft.

News of the solicitations was first reported by Aviation Week's Steve Trimble, [who noted](<https://twitter.com/TheDEWLine/status/1222237672577675270>) that the single-source notices mark "the first concrete steps to signing new orders and reviving U.S. F-15 procurement after a nearly 20-year hiatus."

The last year that Boeing produced an F-15 fighter for the Air Force was in 2004, [according](<https://www.military.com/daily-news/2019/04/22/air-force-hasnt-bought-f-15-decade-boeing-preparing-just-case.html>) to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

The acquisition of the F-15EX is specifically intended as "a refresh to the F-15C/D fleet and augment the F-15E fleet," [according](<https://beta.sam.gov/opp/d4f28d4ee4da40e18b6e5ce7951e3221/view?keywords=%2522f-15ex%2522&sort=-modifiedDate&index=&is_active=true&page=1>) to one of the pre-solicitation notices. Here are some of the aircraft's technical details and intended capabilities, [as first reported by The War Zone](<https://www.thedrive.comhttps://www.twz.com/22372/exclusive-unmasking-the-f-15x-boeings-f-15c-d-eagle-replacement-fighter>) way back in July 2018:

*The F-15X configuration is impressive as it includes a flat-panel glass cockpit, [JHMCS](<https://www.twz.com/18358/new-digital-eyepiece-will-allow-u-s-fighter-pilots-to-own-the-night-like-never-before>) II helmet mounted display (HMD), [revised internal wing structure](<https://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/new-wings-on-qatar-f-15s-pave-upgrade-path-for-usaf-446189/>), fly-by-wire controls, APG-82 [AESA radar](<https://www.twz.com/19508/the-best-of-the-usmcs-aging-f-a-18-hornets-to-receive-aesa-radar-upgrade>), activation of outer wing stations one and nine, advanced mission computer, low-profile heads-up display, updated radio and satellite communications, the highly advanced Eagle Passive Active Warning Survivability System (EPAWSS) electronic warfare and electronic surveillance suite, [Legion Pod](<https://www.twz.com/16381/rare-ghost-f-16d-toting-irst-pod-likely-based-at-area-51-spotted-in-jedi-transition>)-mounted [infrared search and track system](<https://foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.com/infrared-search-and-track-systems-and-the-future-of-the-1691441747>) (IRST) and the list goes on.*

*With the help of the company's new AMBER missile carrying racks, the F-15X will be able to carry a whopping 22 air-to-air missiles during a single sortie. Alternatively, it could fly with eight air-to-air missiles and 28 Small Diameter Bombs (SDBs), or up to seven 2,000 lb bombs and eight air-to-air missiles. We are talking crazy weapons hauling capabilities here. Keep in mind that the F-15C/D Eagle can carry eight air-to-air missiles currently, and the penultimate Eagle variant that is currently being built, the[ F-15SA, can carry a dozen.](<https://www.twz.com/21755/f-15sa-bristles-with-a-dozen-aim-120s-missiles-during-star-wars-canyon-run>)*

The fiscal year 2020 National Defense Authorization Act that President Donald Trump [signed into law](<https://www.cnbc.com/2019/12/21/trump-signs-738-billion-defense-bill.html>) in December provided the Air Force with $1.1 billion to procure up to eight F-15EX aircraft, including two prototypes, [ahead of testing](<https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/1790/text#toc-H8CA78E5E025F47B4A4B40B0A876362F9>) by the service.

The aircraft's inclusion in the fiscal year 2020 defense budget wasn't easy: In September 2018, then-Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson in September stated that the Air Force had no interest in picking up the fourth-generation F-15EX over additional fifth-generation F-35 Joint Strike Fighters.

"We are currently 80 percent fourth-gen aircraft and 20 percent fifth-generation aircraft," Wilson [told](<https://www.defensenews.com/digital-show-dailies/air-force-association/2018/09/12/air-force-not-considering-new-f-15-or-hybrid-f-22f-35-top-civilian-says/>) Defense News at the time. "In any of the fights that we have been asked to plan for, more fifth gen aircraft make a huge difference, and we think that getting to 50-50 means not buying new fourth-gen aircraft, it means continuing to increase the fifth generation."

After Wilson [resigned](<https://spacenews.com/air-force-secretary-heather-wilson-to-step-down/>) in March 2019, the Air Force [reversed course](<https://www.defensenews.com/congress/2019/04/04/usaf-defends-f-15x-buy-to-skeptical-inhofe-reed/>), proposing a buy of eight F-15EX aircraft rather than the Pentagon's original proposal of a dozen as a "short-term patch" to replace the service's aging fourth-generation F-15C fleet without cannibalizing spending for the F-35.

"We absolutely adamant that the F-35 program, the program of record, absolutely stays on track and we don't take a dime out of the F-35," as Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein [told](<https://www.defensenews.com/congress/2019/04/04/usaf-defends-f-15x-buy-to-skeptical-inhofe-reed/>) the Senate Armed Services Committee the following April.

## Author
Jared Keller is the former managing editor of Task & Purpose. His writing has appeared in Aeon, the Los Angeles Review of Books, the New Republic, Pacific Standard, Smithsonian, and The Washington Post, among other publications.

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