Summary: On August 25, 2023, two Boeing F-15EX completed the key tests in the test and evaluation stage during the Xi exercise at Hill Air Force Base in Utah, the United States, successfully test-fired long-range air-to-air missiles and stand-off**, and completed the first phase of comprehensive testing and evaluation. The U.S. Air Force said it plans to purchase 104 F-15EXs, which are expected to gradually replace the aging F-15C D, and will be deployed at Kadena Air Base in Japan first.
The F-15EX basically inherits the conventional aerodynamic layout characteristics of the F-15 family of fighters, but uses a digital cockpit, fly-by-wire control system, the new APG-82(V)1 AESA airborne radar, the F110-GE-129 turbofan engine, and the AN ALQ-250 Eagle Active and Passive Warning and Survival System (EPAWSS) provided by BAE Systems. Overall, compared with the F-15E in service with the U.S. Air Force, the F-15EX has a 28% increase in bomb load, a flight ceiling of up to 18,000 meters, and better electronic countermeasures and multi-purpose combat capabilities.
The F-15 series is known as the "bomb truck", and the F-15EX has 12 air-to-air missile attachment points under the wing, and the total number of air-to-air missiles can reach 22 when the Amber composite pylons are installedIn ground attack mode, the F-15EX can carry 8 air-to-air missiles and 28 SDBs, or 8 air-to-air missiles and 7 900KG bombs, or 3 AGM-158 JASSM LRASM.
The U.S. Air Force's operational vision of the F-15EX is also very direct, one is to use this kind of relatively low operating cost to carry out combat missions such as homeland air defense, patrol alert, and long-range delivery of ammunition in a low-confrontation environment;The second is to cooperate with the F-22A or F-35A C as an "arsenal aircraft" to carry out air supremacy operations.
With the rise of operational concepts such as joint all-domain operations, mosaic warfare, and decision-center warfare, the U.S. Air Force has emphasized the formation of a network structure of multiple nodes on the basis of the F2T2EA kill chain to build a "kill network" with sufficient resilience in order to shorten the closure time of the kill chain and improve its agility [1].
The F-15EX usually plays the role of "shooter" in the typical air battlefield kill chain of the US Air Force, and completes the first-class delivery mission under the command of the air command platform or ground command organization. For example, in the ONRAMP2 capability Xi exercise of the Advanced Combat Management System (ABMS), the ground AN MPQ 64 Sentinel early warning radar, integrated radar and optoelectronic infrared sensor towers detect unmanned target aircraft simulating cruise missiles and transmit threat target data to the "combat cloud" and related combat unitsArtificial intelligence systems can quickly provide commanders with alternatives to destroy targets to aid command decisions. The decision aid is the Adaptive Cross-Domain Kill Network (ACK) project's Araknid software, which forms thousands of kill chain schemes in a short period of time, and then distributes target designation information to the combat platform through the Link16 data link. In the kill chain, the F-16 and MQ-9 UAVs are connected to the ABMS network and act as "shooters" to launch the AIM 9X to intercept the target. Similarly, in the 2021 Onramp4 capability Xi exercise, the F-15 acted as a "shooter", receiving targeting and accusation information from the U.S. Air Force's 603rd Air Operations Center and others, and then launching JASSM.
Relying on modern on-board equipment, the F-15EX is fully capable of acting as a sensor platform in the kill chain. For example, in the 2020 ONRA*** capability Xi, fourth-generation aircraft and UAVs represented by the F-16 are used as one of the battlefield sensors to participate in the construction of the kill chain. The perception information is aggregated to the KC 46A tanker to form a charge decision, and the target designation information is also transmitted from the KC 46A relay to the F-22A to complete the final strike.
The U.S. Air Force has said that in the future, the fighter fleet will be reduced to four models: F-35A, F-16C D, F-15EX and NGAD sixth-generation fighters. Among them, the F-15EX, as the only large-scale supersonic platform, will be responsible for completing the continuous strike mission and maintaining an irreplaceable "shooter" role in the kill chain. Theoretically, with the support of the US military's advanced avionics system, airborne radar, and data link technology, the F-15EX's powerful bomb-carrying capability and modern information system will play an irreplaceable role in the short term as an irreplaceable "firepower output" for air and ground. Of course, the U.S. military's vision of the F-15EX must be very good, but the weakening of the U.S. economy and manufacturing capabilities has put a huge obstacle in the way of this idea. (Beijing Lande Information Technology***.)
References
1] Chen Yichao, Liu Guanbang, Zhao Xiaolian et al. U.S. Air Battlefield Kill Chain and Its Resilience Network[c] Chinese Institute of Command and ControlThe 10th China Command and Control Conference (Volume I).
2] Wen Zhuoman, Li Xiang, Gao Jian, et alXi and Enlightenment of the Advanced Combat Management System of the US Air Force[J].Command Information Systems and Technology, 2023, 14(3):7-17