Posted on 11/23/2020 4:33:23 PM PST by Zhang Fei
Here are nine reasons why Congress should remove the authorization to acquire the F-15EX from the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act.
1. Acquisition cost. In fiscal year 2022, the Air Force will pay $77.9 million for each fully equipped and ready-for-combat F-35A it acquires. Each F-15EX, on the other hand, will cost $87.7 million — but that’s for an airshow capability. If the Air Force wants to fly it in combat, then each jet needs a $12.2 million electronic countermeasures system known as the Eagle Passive Active Warning Survivability system, or EPAWSS, and a $900,000 targeting pod. This brings the cost of a combat-ready F-15EX to $102 million, 30 percent more than an F-35A.
2. Operational capability. The F-15EX airframe was designed 45 years ago. While many of its electronic boxes carry more modern capabilities, most were considered new technology when baby-boomers were still using a dial-up internet service. Its metal skin covering will serve as a homing beacon for modern surface-to-air missiles. To survive merely at the fringes of a peer’s air defenses, the F-15EX requires numerous other fighter and electronic countermeasures jets to protect it. In mock air-to-air combat training, stealth fighters destroy fourth-generation fighters like the F-15EX at a kill ratio that often exceeds 16-to-1. Perhaps those numbers are wild exaggerations; perhaps the F-35 is really equal to, say, just two of those $102 million fighters. Somehow paying $204 million for a capability $77.9 million can buy does not seem like a good deal for America.
3. Operating costs. One of the biggest arguments for the F-15EX is how much cheaper it will be to operate than the F-35, but even that argument is flawed. The price for fuel, oil, and the maintenance personnel it takes to launch, maintain, and repair a fighter are combined into a
(Excerpt) Read more at defenseone.com ...
The Purpose of the EX is to get foreign export dollars.
We are just buying some to replace old F-15C’s that break in half, so we don’t waste F22 hours intercepting Bear Bombers.
[We are just buying some to replace old F-15C’s that break in half]
The F-35 is a nightmare. The F-15 is proven. A bird or a BB brings down an F-35. F-15 a little more robust in the aerodynamic/electro-mechanical dimension, not to mention 2 engines, enough to bring it home after one is gone. F-15 even landed with one wing gone. F-35 just went “a bridge too far” down the McNamara road of hoping to get one weapon do to the job of several others. I think the F-111 ended up being called the Ardvark. I wonder what name the F-35 will end up with? The Matrix? Just too much overly optimistic engineering crammed into a flying machine. Well, that is my impression.
A few years back a Missouri ANG F-15C literally snapped in half while in the air. So while that kind of catastrophic failure is rare, it does suggest that the high-time air frames are done for.
The power behind Biden will use the Military to control US citizens , Fighter Jets will not be needed
[A few years back a Missouri ANG F-15C literally snapped in half while in the air. So while that kind of catastrophic failure is rare, it does suggest that the high-time air frames are done for.]
No new aircraft designs were needed after the F-4.
[The F-35 is a nightmare.]
A lot of that stuff is deeply hidden and it’s depot level maintenance where the non-destructive maintenance takes place, like X-Ray or Magnaflux tests looking for micro-cracks in the wing box and wing spars. That failure over St. Louis was extraordinary.
The f35 is able to be sold to foreign countries. At least the a version.
[A lot of that stuff is deeply hidden and it’s depot level maintenance where the non-destructive maintenance takes place, like X-Ray or Magnaflux tests looking for micro-cracks in the wing box and wing spars. That failure over St. Louis was extraordinary.]
F-15 carries substantially more weapons payload than the F-35 and plays a differet role so comparing one against the other is unrealistic since they will be working in tandem. F-35 is the unseen quarterback directing F-15’s to targets after stealth wild weasel take out Sams. BTW, the F-15 is still one of the fastest fighters in the world. Yes, metal fatigue of the airframes/wings will be an issue but they will be x-rayed before being refitted. I see this as a stop gap measure until F-35 directed drones become available.
Concur.
"But it’s (F35) a pretty good plane"
I've never flown one, but I do provide support for the maintenance effort (Navy and Marine Corps). The pilots (most flew in Iraq and Afghanistan) really like it.
The maintenance effort for F-18 is getting much more difficult because the planes have greatly exceeded their life span and parts are getting extremely difficult to acquire. Additionally, the testing equipment was considered obsolete years ago, so getting parts for that equipment has become its own effort.
Think of it this way, International Harvester trucks were considered bullet proof, but when you spend half your day trying to find a rebuilt starter, maybe you need to move on.
The F-35 can be sold to Foreign countries, but we can sell them F-15’s for more and the F-35 production line is pretty maxed out. It would be Hilarious if we sold a stripped down F-15EX’s to Viet Nam to tweak China.
People that want to fight at long range want two engines. It can carry 22 Air to air missiles so only a cheapskate is going to lose a dog fight.
Also, When Trump talked about “Hypersonic missiles” he was talking about missiles like the 1000 mile range stand off AGM-183 that the EX can carry.
China would be way more scared of an F-15 loaded with 6 AGM-183’s than it would be of an F-35 and its stealth. Most of the Websites discussing the AGM-183 seem to be in Chinese.
Our media never took Trump seriously, but China’s does.
Fine
Sell the f15s to others
It doesnt mean we should buy them in place of f35s
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