F-15EX Eagle II jets will cost between $90 million and $97 million each, according to the Air Force, after the service awarded Boeing a $3.9 billion contract for 48 of the fighters.
The Air Force awarded the contract for lots 2-4 at the end of September, spokeswoman Maj. Alli Stormer told Inside Defense today. Lot 2 will begin deliveries in the fall, she said, and lot 3 deliveries will begin in the summer of 2025.
Boeing ran a flight test of the third F-15EX last week, the company announced last week. That jet is now expected to be delivered by the end of the year and is the first of lot 1B, which was originally set to be completed by June of this year.
Despite this delay, Stormer said initial operational capability is expected in the spring and within the program baseline threshold of July of next year.
The Government Accountability Office in June noted the delayed delivery timeline, which would push IOC from its original schedule of this year.
The F-15-EX underwent a forward fuselage redesign, Boeing spokeswoman Mary Ann Brett said, and the company has also moved its assembly work from South Korea to St. Louis.
“We are investing resources to perfect this process and in the short term, it has cost us some time on the [lot 1B] jets,” Brett said. “In the big picture, we are applying the lessons we are learning on these initial jets and already building those into our plans for [the ninth jet] and beyond.”
Delays to lot 1B have consequently delayed lot 2, but Brett said deliveries for those jets should begin in the second half of next year.
Lot 2 jets will cost $90 million each, lot 3 will cost $97 million each and lot 4 will cost $94 million each, Stormer said. That cost in then-year dollars includes the airframe, Eagle Passive Active Warning Survivability System, engines, radars and other associated subsystems.
Acquisition numbers for the updated variant of the 1970s platform have fluctuated in recent years, but the Air Force’s most recent request puts the procurement of the jet at 104 aircraft.