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America’s fighter of the future is… the F-15? Air Force wants to order a dozen new F-15X fighters in 2020

Boeing

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Fifth-generation fighters may be the air frames of the future, but that future may not be quite as close as it seems. When it comes to the dog fights of the 21st Century, America may now be looking toward a workhorse of the past under the guise of the new F-15X program.

The F-35, often touted as the most advanced fighter platform on the planet, may one day serve as the general purpose workhorse of American military aviation, but to date, there remains too few functional F-35s to serve as the nation’s aerial backbone. Likewise with the already canceled F-22 Raptor program, which boasts only around 150 operational fighters and the expectation that those numbers will continue to dwindle as the years ware on.

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  • Max H

    The one saving grace of this is that our two “near-peers” can hardly build as competent an aircraft as these F-15Xs, let alone have the manufacturing output (or will in spending money) to produce them, nor the pilots to fly them. As bad of a shape as we are in, they’re all pretty awful, even by comparison. These F-15Xs and F18 Block IIIs are gonna save us in the next one…thank God we have relatively plenty of pilots who can fly them.

  • Matthew R

    If we are thinking of purchasing new air superiority fighters why not re-start F-22 production?

  • Daniel

    The f-15 can also be equipped with anti-satellite missiles. I hope they keep that mind when upgrading the new F-15x. Because that would come in extremely handy, in a war with China. Keeping this in mind, I think the Navy should strongly consider and F-15 Sea Eagle varient, with this capability. Plus the Sea Eagle’s longer Combat radius would seem necessary against an enemy with long range hypersonic missiles able to sink Carriers.