Boeing F-15EX Eagle II

The old tankers, KC-135s, which are now going to be KC-46s, which will be around for probably 40 years, the state-of-the-art refueler.

And then, of course, the F-15EX, state-of-the-art fighter aircraft.

So Selfridge is definitely going to be a key base for our national security and certainly important here.

But I've also worked on other initiatives there.

I'm Jennifer Kuiper.

The Oregon National Guard's 142nd Wing dropped live bombs for the first time with their new F-15EX Eagle II aircraft.

It happened during a training exercise in Nevada.

The 142nd Wing is the first operational F-15EX unit in the U.S. Air Force.

The wing normally focuses on air-to-air combat.

A financial obstacle has been cleared in the construction of a new rail tunnel under the Hudson River after the Trump administration dropped its push to stop funding the project.

That one was from Swarm Arrow.

But the clear emphasis on moving forward with uninhabited aviation in the Air Force.

One of the things we didn't get an answer to, though, is that if you're going to buy all these things, if you are going to restart the F-16 acquisition, if you are going to increase the number of F-15EXs, if you are going to buy CCAs and MMAs and all of the trainers you need, It comes back to what General Deptula was saying about top line.

The Air Force right now is running as if it had an unlimited credit card.

And we haven't yet seen what the bill is going to be, what the tradeoffs are going to be, or whether Congress is going to be willing to go along to make all these things happen.

Just very quickly, because we do have to wrap up.

Dave, let me come to you for a second.

So a couple of years ago when the proposal was surfaced, for example, to buy F-15EXs and you're a very proud Eagle driver, You know, you have a little bit of concern that, hey, if we're going to spend a fixed amount of money, let's be buying the next generation of capability and putting the resources there.

So excellent, uh, skating to where the puck is, sir.

Uh, so everything, as you mentioned, and if you look at the Air Force's programs, right? B-21, NGAD, F-15EX, it's not just 'cause you're an F-15 driver.

It still has the baseline capabilities for range, payload, speed.

Uh, and, you know, as, as you noted, you know, you combine that with EPAWS, you begin to really emulate a- almost the stealth capability, and the airplane can carry a lot far.

Um, and for those of us who are watching, we would love to see a lot more [laughs] stick, uh, that's coming out of this, right? H- how-- What's, what's your sense on...

You know, you, you are developing the platforms.

You're almost gonna triple F-15EX.

Uh, B-21 is gonna get expanded.

GE Aerospace is celebrating 40 years of continuous F-110 engine production, delivering strength, speed and reliability to the U.S. military.

With over 11 million flight hours, the F-110 powers the F-15 and F-16 and is the only engine fully integrated into the F-15EX Eagle II.

Learn more at geaerospace.com slash F-110.

And the Defense and Aerospace Report and its family of publications are also brought to you by HII, General Atomic Aeronautical Systems, Clarion Defense, Bell, American Rheinmetall, and Western Alliance Bank.

JJ, what's in the news this week on All Wings Considered?

Well, the biggest news comes from the new selected acquisition reports just out from the department.

Maybe the biggest surprise is F-15EX quantities, which had kind of been all over the map in recent budgets.

The Air Force is now proposing to nearly triple the planned F-15EX fleet from 98 to 268.

And they're

getting the F-15EX there, too, as well.

There's two units there.

Yeah, because they have an A-10 unit, which is interesting.

And so if you go into cost per hour, just those metrics, the F-35 is very comparable to the F-15E in cost per hour.

And Boss, if you go with your how much does it cost, the F-35 actually costs less to acquire than the F-15EX will.

And so the metrics here get really skewed.

What you want is coming back to what can the airplane to do and the cost per effect, and the F-35, as p- has been demonstrated in Iran, is unmatched, and we need to continue doubling down on that aircraft.

Exactly.

I mean, you just ask any fighter pilot what airplane they want to take into bad guy land, it's gonna be the F-35.

So JV, you just, uh, mentioned the F-15EX, and I'm glad you did.

It's a nice segue into the new multiyear framework, um, that the Air Force just announced.

F-AXX is getting to be the only game in town.

You know, and the Navy is not in the position that the Air Force is in, right? Because it has an F-15EX that it can tap to become its medium bomber to fill on its force structure, which is one of the reasons the F-110 engine production obviously is surging over at GE.

And in terms of attributes for a Navy CCA, anything you want to add to that on, you know, I know that that's something that when you're at the Congressional Research Service, you looked at about what the requirements might be on this thing.

Is the Navy getting it about right?

Over time, the F-15A became the F-15C, and then in the, um, '80s it became the F-15E, which is the two-seat Strike Eagle, which was basically a beefing up the aircraft and making a fighter bomber instead of just a pure interceptor.

Over time, they've created the F-15EX, which is a two-seat interceptor based on the F-15E, um, and is basically, it may look like an F-15, but it is definitely not something that came off the line in '72.

The, it's a completely glass cockpit.

It has much more powerful engines.

So for something that was supposed to end production about 10 years ago, clearly, uh, Boeing has found a niche and we're going ahead with...

I- interestingly enough, um, it's the low-cost fighter, which has become kind of interesting because the F-16 originally was created because the F-15 was too expensive.

So now, compared to the F-47 and the F-22, the F-15 is the low-cost fighter, um, and highly capable, and the F-15EX will have a new role, um, of drone interceptor missile carrier, where they're adding extra pylons.

Um, so it'll go back to its interceptor role, but you're talking about something that's carrying, instead of eight missiles, um, 16 missiles on multiple carriers to be able to take out drones and small unmanned aircraft.