The F-15EX fleet will expand. Not every mission needs a stealth fighter.
The Air Force is diversifying its fighter fleet. And foreign countries like the F-15EX, too:
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. ...
Each F-15EX included in the FY2027 budget request is to include the BAE Systems Eagle Passive Active Warning Survivability System or EPAWSS — an advanced electronic countermeasures package designed to improve the non-stealth fighter’s defence against modern air defences.
A 2025 evaluation by the Pentagon found that EPAWSS-equipped Eagle IIs are effective in both offensive and defensive counter-air missions, even against advanced fifth-generation platforms like Russia’s Sukhoi Su-57 or China’s Chengdu J-20.
It is easy to forget that even stealth planes benefit from electronic countermeasures.
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NOTE: Photo from the article.
