The F-15EX Eagle II Fighter Summed Up in 4 Words

Key Points – The Boeing F-15EX Eagle II offers significant value for the US Air Force, primarily because its development benefited from $5 billion in prior foreign investment from Qatar and Saudi Arabia, which covered substantial non-recurring engineering costs.

-This makes the F-15EX, equipped with advanced systems like the AN/APG-82 AESA radar, EPAWSS electronic warfare suite, powerful GE F110-IPE engines, and digital flight controls, a more cost-effective option than the F-35 for missions where high-end stealth is not paramount.

-It provides superior payload and range, serving as a capable “workhorse” that complements stealthier 5th and 6th-generation aircraft like the F-35 and upcoming F-47 NGAD.

F-15EX Eagle II in 4 Words: Worth Every Penny Spent

With the Boeing F-47 now being designed and destined to be the United States Air Force’s (USAF) high-tech, super stealthy replacement, the F-22, many ask why we still need Boeing’s signature twin-engine fighter: the F-15EX Eagle II.

The F-15EX is the latest version of the original F-15 design that first flew more than 50 years ago. The aircraft is one of the most long-lived and continuously viable platforms ever in the history of modern fighter aviation.

Arguments for or against the aircraft are frequently presented as an “either-or” proposition—as in, you should be buying a stealthy model like the F-35 for your Air Force rather than the F-15EX.

However, the better answer is that having both is the optimal combination. The same argument suggests that the F-15EX is designed for nations where the low radar cross-section (RCS) of the F-35 is not necessary to penetrate enemy air defense networks.

The F-15EX Eagle II is not stealthy, and more often than not, the enemy can see it coming. But, as a recent profile of the aircraft points out, the F-15EX  makes no effort to hide its approach in contested airspace. It “knows you see it coming, and one could argue, it simply doesn’t care.”

Its onboard systems include the fastest main mission computer ever installed in a fighter. The same profile states, “The F-15EX is flown by a computer with a pilot who uses the stick to indicate what they want the jet to do.”

The Ultimate Flying Machine

“This not only allows for more effective control, but also for pushing the aircraft to limits that would be unsafe in a traditionally controlled platform,” continues the profile. “The computer knows exactly where the limit of the aircraft performance is, and as a result, it can push the fighter right up to the hairy edge of that limit and hold it there in ways a human operator simply couldn’t (or at least, could not do consistently).

“The F-15QA, the made-for-Qatar version of the aircraft that was in a sense the prototype of the F-15EX, can even have the flight control systems set beyond a 9 G maximum load limit and up to 12 Gs in emergency situations,” the article reads.

Two systems that, if not equal to the tasks set before them, can hold an aircraft back from achieving its full potential are engines and radars. More than one fighter aircraft in history has suffered from one or the other of these two, causing long-term performance issues.

But in the case of the F-15EX Eagle II, the pilots are fortunate that the engines are two F110-GE-129 Increased Performance Engines (IPE). The new flight controls and the high performance of these engines make the F-15EX perform like a super-maneuverable fighter that uses thrust-vectoring fighters or moveable canard foreplanes, but it is equipped with neither.

Other standout subsystems include the AN/APG-82 radar. More than one fighter pilot I have spoken to describes it as the best radar set they have ever flown with. Protection from an entire range of threats is provided by the Eagle Passive Active Warning Survivability System (EPAWSS), one of the most advanced electronic warfare suites ever built.

Leveraging Funding

The price of the aircraft is also, in objective terms, excellent value for money. This is because some considerable funding for the program was paid upfront by foreign partners to share the cost of the aircraft’s Non-Recurring Engineering (NRE) costs.

The initial foreign customers for the F-15EX continued to fund its development long after the US Air Force (USAF) stopped placing orders for new F-15 aircraft. The F-15EX, therefore, benefitted from $5 billion worth of investment in Qatar and Saudi Arabia, so they decided to invest in their own F-15 programs.

As mentioned above, the F-15EX is a cost-effective option for air superiority missions where stealth is not a prime requirement and is also a premier strike platform. This, combined with foreign investment in the program and the utilization of existing radar and propulsion technology, provides beneficial payoffs between capability and price.

The F-15EX is far more expensive than the F-15s of previous generations.  However, it is still less expensive than the F-35 and offers a better solution for missions that do not require stealth. The aircraft also carries a larger payload and has a longer flight time than the F-35.

This means that it is an excellent complement to the future air power world, which includes the F-47.

The F-47 “is a scalpel,” in the words of one very experienced US fighter pilot who also knows the F-15 well. “It has a very specific and precise mission. But the F-15EX is a workhorse that can carry more ordnance than anyone else. Together, the two make the best possible combination.”

About the Author:

Reuben F. Johnson is a survivor of the February 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine and is an Expert on Foreign Military Affairs with the Fundacja im. Kazimierza Pułaskiego in Warsaw.  He has been a consultant to the Pentagon, several NATO governments and the Australian government in the fields of defense technology and weapon systems design.  Over the past 30 years he has resided in and reported from Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Brazil, the People’s Republic of China and Australia.

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