Pentagon Now Planning 268 F-15EX Jets As Boeing Production Surges
By Ward ClarkThe F-15 Eagle fighter has been, since its adoption by the United States Air Force in 1974, one of the world's premier air-superiority fighters. It's not stealthy, but it's fast, big, and carries a huge variety of weapons. It's gone through several revisions and upgrades since its Cold War birth, and the latest, the F-15EX, is in production now, making it over half a century of F-15 production. But the new F-15EX is a very different bird than the original Cold War fighter, and now, the United States Air Force is looking to ramp up the numbers of these magnificent warbirds in the inventory.
The War Department and the Air Force are working with manufacturer Boeing to ramp up production of the F-15EX.
The Pentagon’s latest budget request for the air force would more than double the planned procurement of F-15EX strike fighters to 268 examples — moving Boeing to full-rate production of the revamped Cold War jet in the next year.
Boeing has a long-established goal of ramping F-15EX deliveries to two monthly, or 24 jets annually. For several years that outcome was uncertain, as the US Air Force’s acquisition plans fluctuated drastically.
The air force at one point cut its original procurement target of 144 aircraft to 80, then revised the figure up to 104.
The Pentagon’s fiscal year 2027 budget request would surge F-15EX acquisitions to as many as 268 aircraft, including Lot 1 test aircraft and 21 jets funded under the FY2025 one-time budget reconciliation package known as the One Big Beautiful Bill.
That will take Boeing's production up - maybe not to World War II levels but maxing out their current capacity. Maybe more.
Notably, FY2027 budget projections suggest Boeing could soon expand F-15EX production beyond 24 aircraft annually. The spending request submitted by the air force calls for purchasing 28 jets in 2029 and 36 in both 2030 and 2031.
Boeing has previously said it could increase F-15EX production to 36 aircraft annually if sufficient demand materializes.
This looks a lot like the USAF is planning for the F-15EX to be the backbone of a 21st-century air superiority force. There aren't going to be any more F-22s; the F-35 is deployed, but they seem to be slow in building. The F-47 is still in the design stages. But the F-15, well, the basic airframe, Boeing has been building, as we noted, for over half a century. But the F-15EX, rolling off the lines to the tune of 36 a year, could give us a very effective air-superiority platform in good numbers relatively quickly. And look at recent conflicts the United States has been involved with, since at least 1991; we depend on first establishing air dominance.
Once that's done, we can come at the bad guys with everything in the inventory.
Boeing describes this latest Eagle variant thusly:
Delivering unmatched payload, range and speed, the F‑15EX is built to anchor tactical fighter forces today and tomorrow. Drawing on a legacy of air dominance, it features digital fly‑by‑wire controls, an all‑glass cockpit, modern mission systems and software, open mission systems architecture and the ability to carry hypersonic weapons. Advanced AESA radar and the EPAWSS electronic‑warfare suite enable confident operations in highly contested airspace and advanced networking — both line-of-sight and beyond-line-of-sight — enables collaborative operations with manned and unmanned systems.
Sounds like just what the doctor ordered for maintaining air dominance. And reworking and repurposing older platforms has worked well in the past for the Air Force; just ask an A-10 driver or any member of a B-52 crew. They're old, but they are still the best there is at what they do.
Here, have a look at one of these cutting-edge birds in flight:
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