The Air Force and Boeing have definitized the F-15EX lot 1 contract, setting the flyaway price of six remaining fighters in the lot at $80.5 million each, Inside Defense has learned.
Originally awarded in 2020, the approximately $1.2 billion contract for lot 1 covered eight of the fighters, but the purchases were not definitized when the agreement was inked. The first two jets procured in the lot -- which are being used for testing purposes -- were bought using undefinitized contract actions (UCAs) as the Air Force and Boeing worked to come to terms.
The parties “definitized the F-15EX Lot 1 contract on Nov. 23, 2022,” an Air Force spokeswoman said in a statement to Inside Defense, adding that the “unit flyaway price” for the six remaining fighters “is approximately $80.5 million at contract target price.”
The program planned to achieve initial operational capability with eight aircraft by June 2023, according to the Government Accountability Office’s June 2022 annual weapon systems assessment. Asked whether the Air Force still expects on-time deliveries for the remaining jets in lot 1, the spokeswoman said the service “anticipates Lot 1 deliveries will complete in calendar year 2023.”
Boeing similarly said in response to questions about the delivery timeline that “we delivered the first two aircraft within 10 months from contract award, ahead of contractual dates, and we are on track to deliver six Lot 1B aircraft this year in close coordination with the USAF.”
Some analysts have raised questions about the aircraft’s sticker price, with the Heritage Foundation’s JV Venable noting in a Breaking Defense op-ed that the fighter’s flyaway cost could be pricier than the F-35A when all factors are accounted for. According to Boeing, the roughly $80 million flyaway figure captures the airframe, dual F110 engines manufactured by General Electric, the radar and the aircraft’s new electronic warfare suite called the Eagle Passive Active Warning Survivability System (EPAWSS).
The price tag for the F-35 is also expected to creep up. The F-35 Joint Program Office and Lockheed Martin recently finalized a deal for the aircraft’s next production lots, whose deliveries are set to begin this summer. However, a final flyaway cost cannot be calculated until the contract for the aircraft’s F135 engines, built by Pratt & Whitney, is definitized. The former head of JPO, Lt. Gen. Eric Fick, additionally said in March 2022 that the aircraft’s unit cost in the forthcoming lots is likely to rise above a target of $80 million.
A Boeing executive previously vowed that F-15EX aircraft in lots 2 and 3 would come in at or below $80 million, according to a report in Breaking Defense. Asked whether Boeing anticipates a similar price for upcoming orders, the company said, “future lots will be individually negotiated with the USAF and will be subject to supply chain inflation, quantity adjustments and may include new capabilities or equipment depending upon warfighter requirements.”
The Air Force spokeswoman said the timeline for awarding lots 2 and 3 “is not releasable as the contract is considered negotiation sensitive at this point.”
Lawmakers have been keenly interested in the aircraft’s acquisition. During the mark-up process for the FY-23 budget last summer, House appropriators slammed the use of UCAs to procure the aircraft, citing difficulties in conducting oversight of pricing and other contract data. Air Force acquisition chief Andrew Hunter later acknowledged the service and Boeing “struggled” to reach an agreement on the F-15EX and other contracts.
The FY-23 omnibus legislation similarly provided funding for the Air Force’s procurement request “based on the understanding that the Air Force will not award the production of these aircraft through an undefinitized contractual action,” according to explanatory text accompanying the bill.
Lawmakers are further concerned about the Air Force’s plans to reduce the aircraft’s planned fleet size. After previously projecting an end-strength of up to 144 fighters, the service released its FY-23 budget request with a surprise plan for a total fleet size of 80, asking Congress for funds to buy 24 of the jets this fiscal year and finish production with another 24 in FY-24.
Appropriators provided $2.3 billion to fund the requested 24 fighters but directed Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall to submit a report that “include[s] an assessment of the operational impacts of the decision, strategic basing impacts, cost avoidance by fiscal year, quantity change and the rationale for truncation” of the F-15EX and other programs.
The report is due “concurrent with submission of the fiscal year 2024 president's budget request,” the omnibus explanatory text says.
Procurement of the F-15EX kicked off with Middle Tier Acquisition authority, which enables officials to rapidly field a new system if its capabilities are sufficiently mature. The Air Force spokeswoman said the program successfully transitioned out of the MTA path to a Major Capability Acquisition in September 2022 and is now “a post-milestone C, [acquisition category] IB program.” The transition entailed setting a formal acquisition baseline, with any changes in quantities expected in the service’s fiscal year 2024 budget request.
About five decades have passed since the first F-15 delivery in 1974, a fleet that’s been refreshed with new iterations in subsequent years. The F-15EX, dubbed Eagle II, represents the most modern configuration and is a U.S.-specific version based on a model being built for Qatar. It is planned to mostly replenish aging F-15C/D units for the Air National Guard.
Officials such as Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Brown have pointed to the F-15EX’s ability to contribute to a mix of capabilities through a new “four-plus-one” strategy consisting of the Eagle II, F-35, F-16, Next Generation Air Dominance fighter and A-10. A non-stealth aircraft, the F-15EX can also carry a greater weapons load than any other fighter.
In a flight test on Nov. 29, the Air Force showed progress in realizing the aircraft’s full weapons carriage, with two F-15EXs launching air-to-air missiles over the Gulf of Mexico after departing from Eglin Air Force Base, FL.
The mission was the first to show that the aircraft could safely fire the weapons and proved “a major step in demonstrating the Eagle II aircraft’s missile capacity of 12 air-to-air missiles,” according to a Jan. 4 press release from Air Combat Command.
Previous F-15s and the F-22, by comparison, offer the second-largest weapons capacity at eight missiles each.