Boeing wins $2.38 billion contract for 22 more F-15EX fighters

120 under contract, 22 delivered

The Lot 7 award covers 22 aircraft and raises the contracted total across Lots 1 to 7 to 120, from 98 through Lot 6, Boeing said. The Department of War announced the award on 29 September; Boeing disclosed the $2.38 billion value in a separate release after the Air Force declined to give a price.

Only 22 aircraft have reached the Air Force so far, Airdata News reported. Boeing delivered F-15EX-22, the first from Lot 3, in September and will continue Lot 3 deliveries through the rest of 2026.

Production is behind schedule

Deliveries from Lot 4, once expected in 2026, are now scheduled for 2028, according to Airdata News. Boeing first struggled with the forward fuselage and later hit supply chain and quality problems. Military Watch Magazine reported that the Pentagon called the delays from the 2025 strike at Boeing's St Louis line, which ran from August to November, unrecoverable. Parts shortages have affected large-area displays, F110 engines and ejection-system cartridges. Boeing and the Air Force are working to raise output at St Louis to two aircraft per month.

Fleet plan grew to 267

The Air Force originally planned 129 F-15EXs and increased the fleet to 267 in April 2026, The Aviationist reported. Airdata News said the service had previously intended to stop at 98. The extra aircraft will replace remaining F-15C/Ds and begin recapitalising the newer F-15E fleet. F-15C/D purchases ended in the late 1980s and F-15E purchases in 2001.

Lieutenant General David Tabor, deputy chief for plans and programs, told a Senate subcommittee in May 2026 that the F-15EX was the fastest way to close the capability gap left by delays to the F-35's TR-3 and Block 4 configurations, Meta-Defense reported.

Boeing's data sheet lists a 29,500-pound payload and a top speed of Mach 2.5.

The first operational F-15EXs went to the Oregon Air National Guard's 142nd Wing at Portland. The Air Force has more recently begun receiving aircraft for Kadena Air Base in Japan, where the type replaces F-15C/Ds withdrawn from permanent deployment, Airdata News reported.

Cost and deadline

Air and Space Forces Magazine estimated the contract at $108 million per airframe, excluding the GE Aerospace F110-GE-129 engines the Air Force buys separately. Earlier budget documents pointed to 21 aircraft for Lot 7; Boeing confirmed 22 and did not explain the extra one, Airdata News reported.

The award used money from the 2026 budget and the reconciliation package, which required the funds to be spent by 30 September or face an 8.3% cut, Air and Space Forces Magazine reported via The Aviationist. Brigadier General Timothy Helfrich, portfolio acquisition executive for the Fighters and Advanced Aircraft Directorate, said Lot 7 "reflects a disciplined approach to executing available resources while balancing the realities affecting defence production". The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center said the team "assessed the impacts of changing production conditions and inflation" and kept all 22 aircraft within available funding.

More orders expected

On Boeing's third-quarter earnings call, chief executive Ortberg said the award "brings the total number of aircraft under contract to 120" and later referred to "a big new order on F-15EX, and there's more to come on that", Defence Industry Europe reported. He did not name the customer, quantity or timing. He also said defence revenue growth would move "more towards the middle single digit or higher going forward", from an earlier low single-digit forecast. Those figures cover the whole defence portfolio, not the F-15EX line.

Boeing did not say when the 22 Lot 7 aircraft will be delivered.