GOV/MIL Boeing doubles F-15C missile load in '2040C' Eagle upgrade

[Housecarl]

For the "Zoomies" here ........There are also two more outboard hardpoints on the wings of the F-15 that aren't ever used.

"Old"/Current air superiority load out 8 missiles shown on an F-15A......AIM-7s and AIM-9s can be replaced with AIM-120s.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipe...o-view_silhouette_showing_external_stores.png

http://www3.picturepush.com/photo/a/11189931/img/11189931.jpg

For links see article source.....
Posted for fair use.....
https://www.flightglobal.com/news/a...s-f-15c-missile-load-in-2040c-eagle-u-416766/

Boeing doubles F-15C missile load in '2040C' Eagle upgrade
¤—¤˜
15 September, 2015
| BY: James Drew
| Washington DC

Boeing has unveiled an up-gunned version of its supersonic F-15C air superiority jet designed to keep the aging fleet operationally relevant through 2040.

Called 2040C, the upgrade package includes ¡°quad pack¡± munitions racks designed to double the aircraft¡¯s air-to-air missile payload to 16 and conformal fuel tanks for extended-range flights.

For communications, Boeing is naturally offering ¡°Talon HATE¡± ¨C the air force¡¯s programme of record for connecting the F-15 with Lockheed Martin¡¯s F-22 Raptor.

In terms of survivability, Boeing¡¯s package includes Raytheon¡¯s APG-63(v)3 active synthetically scanned array (AESA) radar and a long-range infrared search and track (IRST) sensor for ¡°first sight, first shot, first kill¡± air-to-air combat.

2040C continues delivery of the Eagle Passive/Active Warning Survivability System (EPAWSS) systems ¨C a programme designed to equip the fourth-generation F-15 with the latest electronic warfare capabilities. A contract announcement for that effort is expected soon.

Boeing vice president of F-15 programs Mike Gibbons says the 2040C concept is an evolution of the Silent Eagle proposed to South Korea, with some low-observable improvements but mostly a focus on the latest air capabilities and lethality.

https://d3fod5fkpt74ph.cloudfront.n...6a6f873e/e5a4f89f94f64e629ca61fb8fa3e1451.jpg
Boeing's up-gunned F-15C "2040C" Eagle upgrade package would double's the aircraft's missile capacity.


Boeing

¡°F-15s and F-22s in the fight together in the future out there in the 2030s; the assessment and analysis we¡¯ve done points to this as a nice solution set for the air force,¡± he said at an Air Force Association conference in Washington. ¡°The air force has funded some of these and we¡¯re in discussions about the others, but many are funded programmes of record.¡±

¡°Doubling the number of missiles on the jet is not something that¡¯s a current programme of record, but it is something we know is of interest to the air force.¡±

Gibbons says instead of carrying weapons internally to reduce the Eagle¡¯s radar cross section, the ¡°evolving threat¡± ¨C Russia and China¡¯s fielding of advanced fighter jets ¨C favours more weapons, according to Boeing.

The Pentagon capped F-22 production at 195, forcing the air force to keep the F-15C in service far longer than planned, and current operating concepts team the two jets for a high-low mix.

Boeing sees a market for more than 200 active-duty and air national guard F-15C upgrades, and the new payloads could be delivered as part of a future service-life-extension programme (SLEP).

Gibbons says some USAF F-15Cs have more than 20,000h of flight time remaining on the airframe, whereas other are in the low teens and would require new wings and vertical tales.

Speaking at a media roundtable 15 September, Air Combat Command commander Gen Hawk Carlisle said the F-15C will require a life-extension programme in the near future and the added capabilities being offered by Boeing will be considered as part of that.

The upgrade would be a ¡°significant bill,¡± but he says the planning for that needs to start now in the absence of more F-22s. Boeing is also targeting international F-15C operators including Japan, Israel and Saudi Arabia.


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[Housecarl]

For links see article source.....
Posted for fair use.....
http://www.defensenews.com/story/de...g-positions-f-15-as-f-22-supplement/72316414/

Boeing Positions F-15 as F-22 Supplement

By Aaron Mehta 2:51 p.m. EDT September 15, 2015
Comments 5

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — In an effort to extend its F-15 business, Boeing unveiled a new upgrade package for the F-15C design — one specifically targeting an air superiority gap left from the decision to cut production on the F-22.

The new design, part of an effort dubbed "F-15 C2040" by the company, would double the number of air-to-air weapons carried by the F-15C from eight to 16 while adding conformal fuel tanks for enhanced distance.

It would also feature updated electronics, including a long-range Infra-Red Search and Track (IRST) sensor and the already planned Eagle Passive/Active Warning Survivability System (EPAWSS). It would also feature an updated AESA radar.

The upgrades being proposed are not one large package. Rather, the company is offering a menu of options, one which can be targeted both at the 250 air dominance F-15s in the US inventory and the hundreds used by international customers abroad.

Mike Gibbons, F-15 program manager for Boeing, said the idea of this particular configuration came from a realization that "there is a real challenge the Air Force faces with air superiority."

Boeing's marketing theory goes something like this. The F-22 was supposed to be the air superiority backbone of the Air Force for years to come, working hand in hand with the F-35 to provide a high-end air capability. But then the F-22 program was cancelled well short of projected totals.

Gen. Mark Welsh, Air Force chief of staff, acknowledged the challenge caused by the curtailed F-22 fleet in an exclusive interview with Defense News.

The F-35, Welsh said, "was never designed to be the next dog fighting machine. It was designed to be the multipurpose, data-integration platform that could do all kinds of things in the air-to-ground arena including dismantle enemy, integrated, air defenses. It had an air-to-air capability, but it was not intended to be an air-superiority fighter. That was the F-22."

For Boeing, the argument then is that an upgraded F-15C can help bridge the gap left by the F-22 cutback, at least until the next-generation air dominance program comes online in large numbers — around 2040.


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Which isn't to say upgraded F-15s will replace the F-22. Indeed, Boeing is expressly positioning the system as an integrated capability with the F-22, thanks to its Talon HATE program.

Speaking to reporters last week in St. Louis, Boeing executives gave a first glance at the pod, which is on contract with the Air Force for 4 EMD pods. The pod is designed to allow easy data transfer between F-22 and F-15, built around the Boeing "Phantom Fusion" computer system.

Gibbons confirmed the Talon HATE pod is part of the upgrade package being discussed. He added that while the pod comes with an IRST capability, it is not the long-range IRST being discussed for the 2040C package.

Backlog orders on the F-15 line run out in 2019. While denying that means the end of the F-15 line in St. Louis, Gibbons did acknowledge it puts pressure on the Air Force to decide whether it wants these upgrades "in the next few" budget cycles.

Gibbons also said the work is largely non-evasive, with the exception of EPAWSS — which is already planned to be installed across the fleet in the early 2020s. That would provide an ideal window to do other depot work, he noted.

Speaking to reporters later in the day, Gen. Hawk Carlisle, the head of Air Combat Command, acknowledged that a capability upgrade would be nice, but that a service life extension program, or SLEP, is more important.

"When we look at the stress tests we've done on the f15c and were doing on the f15 and f16 there are issues were gonna have to do for service life extension with respect to the structural integrity of the airplane, so were working on those and what were gonna have to do in the future,

"If I could find a way with resources, I would do everything I could when we put those airplanes in to do a service life extension program and fix the structural issues, I would do everything in my power to try to do capabilities upgrade at the same time," he said. "I will try to do as much of that as I can find the resources."

As to how much a SLEP program would cost, Carlisle said the analysis is underway but "we know it's a pretty significant bill in the billions of dollars."

Lara Seligman contributed to this report.

Email: amehta@defensenews.com

Twitter: @AaronMehta

 

[Housecarl]

For links see article source.....
Posted for fair use.....
https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-...ing-proposes-new-life-lethality-f-15c-fighter

Boeing Proposes New Life, Lethality for F-15C Fighter

by Bill Carey - September 22, 2015, 7:42 AM

Boeing is proposing an “F-15 2040C” series of upgrades that would extend the life of the fourth-generation F-15C air superiority fighter to complement the fifth-generation F-22 Raptor. The 2040 version would double to 16 the number of air-to-air missiles the fighter carries, extend its range and improve its lethality and survivability with upgraded electronics.

An F-15 2040C would also extend the fighter’s production line in St. Louis, which with 84 F-15SAs destined for Saudi Arabia has firm orders through 2019. Boeing previously offered a stealthy “Silent Eagle” version for South Korea’s F-X III fighter competition, but that country last year settled on the Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightning II for the requirement.

At the recent Air Force Association conference in National Harbor, Md., Boeing said it has conducted an internal study of upgrading the F-15C to serve as a cohort to Lockheed Martin’s F-22. The U.S. Air Force originally sought as many as 750 F-22s, but the U.S. government ultimately stopped production in 2011 at 187 operational fighters. Boeing now seeks to fill a perceived gap in air superiority capability with an upgraded F-15C.

“There’s a real challenge that the U.S. faces with air superiority because the next generation air dominance platform is not intended to be fielded until the mid-2030s, and it won’t be out there in numbers until roughly the 2040 time frame to start replacing the fleet,” said Mike Gibbons, Boeing vice president of F-15 programs. “That means the U.S. Air Force has the F-15s and the F-22s they have today to perform the air superiority mission.”

The F-15 2040C would be a menu offering of F-15 program of record and proposed upgrades. “We’re not providing it as a single proposal to the U.S. Air Force,” said Gibbons, who added that Boeing is providing the service with analysis and cost and time estimates of possible improvements. “We expect if they head down this path, they won’t be left to do it all in one [budget] cycle. It’s very likely this would be a set of upgrades to the jet,” he said.

The package would incorporate the programmed radar upgrade of F-15C/Ds with the Raytheon APG-63(v)3 active electronically scanned radar and a new electronic warfare suite called EPAWSS, for the Eagle Passive/Active Warning and Survivability System. A proposed long-range infrared search and track sensor pod would complement the AESA radar. Boeing supplies conformal fuel tanks on the multi-role F-15E Strike Eagle; the 2040C upgrade would add them on the F-15C. The proposed weapons load increase would be accomplished by adding a Boeing-developed “quad pack” carriage system on two weapons stations. A communications and networking pod with advanced datalinks, now being demonstrated under the Air Force’s Talon HATE program, would enable the older F-15 to interact with the Raptor and other platforms.

“These are critical capabilities that are not important to the F-15 alone; they’re really a nice complement to what the F-22 has,” Gibbons said. “The F-22 is an incredible platform by itself. When you bring in an F-15 that’s got more weapons, a long-range sensor that is in a different frequency band than what the F-22 carries, the extended range and the connectivity to the F-22 and other systems—that is a huge increase in capability.”


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[bw]

would require new wings and vertical tales.

Tales? Are you kidding me?

 

[Housecarl]

Tales? Are you kidding me?

Yeah, I saw that "typo" on the part of the author and editor and left it in.

 

[Millwright]

The be-all, do-all F35 is a "tale".

 

[Housecarl]

What's missing from this is the proposed extended range AIM-120 and the proposed air launched PAC-3.

 

[Dozdoats]

The best is the enemy of the good ...

 

[Housecarl]

The best is the enemy of the good ...

True.

ETA: The leaders in fielding upgrades for the F-15 are the Israelis and Japanese.

As to the missiles, the proposed upgrades/new model AIM-120 (beyond the new "D" model) was a ramjet powered version. Both that and the "D" have been hampered by the continuing "sequestration" mess along with everything else.

The PAC-3 integration for air launch is intended to give more flexibility and further forward coverage for theater and CONUS BMD and cruise missile defense.

 

[Richard]

at least until the next-generation air dominance program comes online in large numbers — around 2040.

What would that be if they cancelled the F22, unmanned? have they anything planned?

The truth is they have nothing planned except the F35 unless there is a massive development in the use of drones. Can't see another manned air dominance fighter being on the agenda now. You could always buy Eurofighters?

 

[Meadowlark]

better yet cancel the F-35 the flying stealth brick. Its a dogshit at dogfighting.

 

[Housecarl]

better yet cancel the F-35 the flying stealth brick. Its a dogshit at dogfighting.

Or apparently anything else at this point.

 

[Richard]

OK you guys should buy the Eurofighter. My offer is still open, you can have a production line for fully developed aircraft tomorrow. And you don't have to develop the F35 further, so cancel it.

 

[JF&P]

I thought the F-22 was no longer in production?

 

[OldArcher]

Richard, Richard...

Our Pentagon has been infected with a terminally stupid disease for-ever... "Not invented here." Stupid, treacherous wankers would rather waste blood and lives, than be "smart." What can you do? Unfortunately, they've had their testicles and brains removed by our MuslimQueerHisNiggerInChief, MQHNIC, BHOhAsshole... Until there is a MAJOR change in direction and command, our men and women in uniform may be changing to pink headgear, and scalloped, pink and black panties... Now, it won't be just sheep that are scared in some places...

God Help Us...

OA

 

[Housecarl]

I thought the F-22 was no longer in production?

The tooling still exists in storage. Just depends, as usual, on someone making a contrary real decision and of course money.

That being said, the F-15, F-18 and F-16 lines are still open.

 

[Vegas321]

F-22 is not in production.

F-35 is a Piece of Ka-ka. Get rid of the program

F-15C "2040C" would most likely be an upgrade to a 1/2nd rate fighter.

We must bring the F-111 back with the latest upgrades IMO.