Boeing is quietly proposing a new version of the world-famous F-15 Eagle that combines an updated airframe with an unprecedented number of anti-air missiles. The F-15X would carry more than two dozen air-to-air missiles, more three times more than most fighter jets. According to DefenseOne, the Air Force is considering the proposal.
The F-15 Eagle was first introduced in 1972. Designed as an air superiority fighter, the F-15 was armed with four AIM-9 Sidewinder short-range infrared-guided missiles and four AIM-7 Sparrow medium-range radar-guided missiles. Over the years the F-15 has consistently carried the same number of missiles, today carrying four AIM-9X Sidewinder missiles and the AIM-7’s replacement, the AIM-120 AMRAAM. The F-15’s replacement, the F-22 Raptor, can carry four Sidewinders and six AMRAAMs, and the F-35 can carry four AMRAAMs.
The F-15 is not a stealth fighter (it was designed before stealth was a thing) and its advantage is raw power. Furthermore, while stealth jets fly with weapons stored internally to keep their radar signature low, the non-stealthy F-15 is free to let it all hang out and carry as many weapons as will fit on its wings.
In 2017, Boeing proposed the Eagle 2040C (see above), bumping the number of AMRAAM missiles up to 16. Eagle 2040C was likely meant as a flying magazine, meaning the bird would fly in tandem with stealthy airplanes such as the F-22 and F-35. The non-stealthy airplane would receive targeting information from other fighters hiding from enemy radar, methodically servicing targets served up by a silent partner.
A year later, Boeing has apparently increased the number of air-to-air missiles to more than two dozen. It’s not clear how the company has done this. Traditionally, the F-15 carries four AMRAAM-type missiles on its fuselage, while Eagle 2040C added quad packs of four missiles each to the wing pylons. Assuming two quad packs on each wing plus the centerline missiles, that comes out to just 20 missiles. Are we looking at sextuple packs now?
Boeing faces a bit of an uphill battle selling this to the Air Force. The cost of the F-35A fighter has fallen below $90 million for the first time and will eventually hit $85 million, finally making the new fighter competitive in price to mature but updated designs like the F-15 Eagle and F/A-18E/F Super Hornet. The service has committed to buying only stealth fighters, but the only such fighter currently in production is the F-35. The F-35 can only carry four missiles, and its so-called “Beast Mode,” which would allow the plane to carry 16 missiles as long as stealth isn’t necessary, is currently vaporware.
Read more at DefenseOne
Kyle Mizokami is a writer on defense and security issues and has been at Popular Mechanics since 2015. If it involves explosions or projectiles, he's generally in favor of it. Kyle’s articles have appeared at The Daily Beast, U.S. Naval Institute News, The Diplomat, Foreign Policy, Combat Aircraft Monthly, VICE News, and others. He lives in San Francisco.
