The F-15EX is an Awesome Aircraft! (But Is It Too Expensive?)

Points for bringing up the B1-R. Also credit to the absolute Chads in the USAF that convinced brass to designate an aircraft the B-ONE-R.

Two things: 1. As I understand it, the F-15EX is much more maneuverable than the old Eagle due to the plane to be able to electronically maximize the effect of its control surfaces despite the lack of thrust vectoring. 2. The EX will be capable of carrying 12 AIM-120 AMRAAM missiles, but will also be able to carry 24 (TWENTY-FOUR!!!) AIM-260 Peregrine missiles which are slated to replace the AIM-120.

F-15EX AESA radar is the current/only 36” class array. That’s a lot of ability to see things smaller radars cannot. The Airforce should just commit to retiring all the C/D’s asap and the oldest half of the E fleet and pickup 250+ EXs

I was a F15 Crew Chief with the 125th FW in Jacksonville and we're still flying the C's. Some of those airframes are from 1980 and we're hard pressed sometimes to get 6 birds flying. We are getting F35's sometime in the next year or two and already have the Sim being built. I love the F15 and am thrilled there will still be one flying. Great channel guys. Eagles Forever

What struck me was the modern fly by wire system, as Mover pointed out. He also had a good point that stealth is only useful at the start of a campaign. The F-35 would also be useful to pass targeting data to the EX. Stay out of the line of fire and use all that data fusion.

The current F-15 fleet is definitely long in the tooth. I agree with the AF acquiring the EX. It's a proven airframe with some nice upgrades. I also agree that you don't need a 5th Gen stealth platform to truck bombs and missiles after IAD's have been dealt with. I just hope the cost doesn't spike up over the length of the buy. Current acquisition history has shown cost to always be going up. 12 AMRAAMs sounds cool!

As you guys point out, we already have day one capability that can't maintain the mission tempo of any invested action. We can't focus strictly on cutting edge stealth to win a sustained conflict. The price tag listed here is only the initial sticker price. Whether talking about sustained combat or a long period of peace time training, we have to focus on the mantra of 'logistics logistics logistics.' At least if our goal is a wartime viable, cost effective, force. I have no idea what the part crossover is from the E model but even at 40-50% compatibility, there are extremely substantial budget savings for each operational squadron. The tooling is still active. The supply lines are already there. Shelves are stocked. The chance for a 70-90% FMC rate is achievable immediately as they enter service compared to what we've seen for new platforms. I'm a former F-15 crew dog who watched the F22 come online. Those growing pains aren't acceptable for an extremely thinned force who need combat operational squadrons right now. In the next 10 years, the savings incurred by buying the F-15EX will show this to be the low budget/high value choice.

Never know when you will need that back seat. The movie, Iron Eagle comes to mind. :)

The price might be a little bit expensive by government standards, but the Air Force still need that plane because it has some good advantages over the F-15C aircraft, which is getting older and cost expensive for upgrades. So getting a new aircraft would be a new investment and it’s hard for them to upgrade the older F-15C because it’s past beyond is service life and it’s due for retirement.

We've done a similar thing in the RAAF. F35s to be attacking whilst unseen. Growlers to blind what the enemy can see and Rhinos to truck the bombs in. Followed by the BBJ to bring the Prime Minister for a tour afterwards 😂

I always assumed the anti-air strategy was to send in a set of F-35s to provide essentially a "forward AWACS" capability so that missile trucks (like the EX) could launch long range 120-Ds or fitted Meteors and immediately defend while the F-35s would guide the missiles in increasing probability of kill.

Mover joked about who gets backseat rides, but I was actually bumped from my Eagle ride at Nellis by a local female newscaster. It took me until my 29th year in the Guard to get a ride in the backseat of a Viper. Yeah, I got sick but wouldn’t trade it for anything - that max takeoff!

Amn of the Quarter (explicitly non-MX amn) and NFL cheerleaders getting free rides is exactly right. Can't let any of the maintainers get anything other than a half-assed verbal appreciation at the end of a speech when everyone has already lost interest. Now get about to work! 16's until the MC rate goes up one more percent! -Big Air Force.

Air force should get Honda Accord EX instead. They get great mpg and can seat 5 instead of just 2 in the f15 EX

Ever since the EX was announced, I thought it was an awesome idea. This thing is a flying SAM site that easily converts to a fast, heavy-duty bomb truck when you need one. I could even envision mods that would turn an EX into a CJ or Growler equivalent for EW and SEAD. It made perfect sense to me that the USA Guard units with Air Defense Missions should all replace their C/D models with the EX and that we should buy at least 144 of these jets. I have no idea what the AF brass was thinking when they decided to buy the EX for the Portland, Klamath Falls, Fresno and Nawlins units.....but then decided that the Jacksonville and Westfield units should get the F-35. WTFO?? In their primary mission, these Guard units are not likely to face masses of 5th gen fighters. The flying SAM site with the big-ass radar is what they really need.....and are pretty much already trained to fly. It also has two engines, which is really nice for coastal defense.

The tiny radar returns of stealth aircraft like the F-35 will never become obsolete as long as radars are still used to detect or track aircraft.

Great Episode, Guys! Like hearing what you two bring to conversations.

The EX is planned to get both the Legion IRST pod and the SNIPER pod as well

I said USAF should split the F-15K line for new upgraded F-15s ten years ago, to keep the fighting force capable. I was 100% correct. I will state now for the record, retiring ALL the B-1B Bombers is a bad idea. A few BONEs should be upgraded too as standoff air-to-air missile truck, with the rest for spare parts.

As a retired USAF Flight surgeon, I love seeing new airframes with a backseat!.