According to Bloomberg News, 19th Feb, 2019, USAF wants eight upgraded newF15 fighter-bombers from Boing, even though it has F22's, older F15's, and F35's. Apparently the F35 cant carry the heavy missiles under development. This is a preliminary order as apparently 80 F15X aircraft will be required.
I have previously suggested the RAAF look at the upgraded Eurofighter under development, maybe we should show some interest in the F15X, instead of having all of eggs in the one F35 basket.
Its easy to fall into the trap of “the US are doing it so they must have some awesome conops backing it up,” but I think you’re forgetting the dynamics at play in Washington currently.
The sequence of events is along the lines of:
1. It’s late 2018 and the Whitehouse is occupied by a plutocrat who allows those who are loyal to him to have carte blanche.
2. Boeing has limited forward orders for F15s as export orders run down.
3. The Deputy Secretary of Defense has been in his job for a bit over a year, having spent the rest of his career at Boeing.
4. The Secretary resigns. His Deputy becomes acting Secretary.
5. Within a week the Pentagon places a USD1.2bn order with Boeing.
You draw your own conclusions.
Additionally, while it does seem to be an outstanding aircraft in many regards (with range and payload particularly relevant in an Australian context) there are significant logistical drawbacks from adding more types to a fleet.
P&W and GE are also competing to re-engine the F-35 in the mid 2020s, with fuel economy (and hence range) expected to increase significantly. In the meantime P&W continue to make incremental improvements to the F135. This should help enhance the F-35’s capabilities on a couple of metrics that are particularly important to us (again, range and payload).
So on balance I’d say we’re best to stay the course with the F-35 / Super Hornet combo.
