Will the updated Boeing F-15X single-seat jet fighter become a new Air Force program of record?
The Military & Aerospace Electronics take:
5 Feb. 2019 -- The F-15X is not a Boeing ploy to disrupt the F-35A program. Buying a few F-15Xs now to begin recapping the F-15C/D fleet, the youngest of which is now well over three decades old, will have no impact on the future F-35A force structure.
There might be $1.1 billion set aside in the 2020 defense budget proposal, which will include an initial order for eight F-15Xs with the rest being spent on non-recurring costs, including setting up and managing the program and to pay for a relatively tiny amount of development work needed to bring the aircraft's systems and software in line with the Air Force's exact specifications.
Keep in mind that this relatively minuscule developmental cost is only possible because other countries have spent roughly $5 billion over the last couple of decades to continuously evolve the F-15 and its avionics into what it is today. So basically, the USAF is getting this for free.
John Keller, chief editor
Military & Aerospace Electronics
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