U.S. Air Force Doubles F-15EX Purchase Plan to 267 Jets in Fiscal 2027 Budget

U.S. Air Force plans to purchase 267 F-15EX jets under its fiscal 2027 budget, more than doubling the previous planned buy of 129 aircraft. The budget, revealed on April 21, 2026, includes funding for 24 additional F-15EX jets at a cost of $3 billion.

This increase responds to the need to recapitalize the aging F-15E fleet, as stated by an Air Force spokesperson. The plan will be supported by the administration’s defense budget for fiscal 2027, which requests approximately $1.5 trillion in total funding.

This includes a 30 percent increase in procurement funds. The Air Force requests to retire 20 F-15E jets in fiscal 2027, specifically the oldest examples fitted with Pratt & Whitney F100-PW-220 engines. The F-15 first entered service with the Air Force in 1976.

The overall Air Force budget is set to rise 38 percent to $338.8 billion.

The Pentagon's fiscal 2027 budget request states it can speed up fielding of the F-35's Block 4 upgrade by one year to 2030 by increasing spending on the program. F-35 jets are still being bought in the fiscal 2027 budget request.

However, F-35 jets are not currently being delivered with radar due to the Block 4 upgrade being in limbo. The Office of the Director, Operational Test & Evaluation (DOT&E) provided an assessment of the F-15EX in its 2025 annual report. The DOT&E 2025 report stated that against the level of threat tested, the F-15EX is operationally effective in all its air superiority roles, including defensive and offensive counter-air against surrogate fifth-generation adversary aircraft, as well as basic air-to-ground capability against the tested threats.

The F-15EX can carry 12 AIM-120 missiles. The planned F-15EX buy dropped to 80 aircraft in 2023. The F-15EX program was slated to grow from 98 aircraft to 129 in the fiscal year 2026 budget proposal.

Portland, Fresno, New Orleans, and two squadrons at Kadena Air Base in Okinawa, Japan, were slated to get the F-15EX. The plan for Portland, Fresno, New Orleans, and Kadena would have required 90 jets out of the 98-aircraft inventory.

Adding Michigan and expanding those squadrons to 21 jets would require 126 F-15EX aircraft. Increasing the planned buy to 267 jets opens up the possibility of creating 13 squadrons of 21 jets, with three F-15EXs left over. The F-15E is capable of delivering nuclear weapons.

The F-15E is the first jet certified to employ the newest variant of the B61 tactical nuclear bomb. The F-15E has been upgraded with the Raytheon AN/APG-82(V)1 active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar. The F-15E has the new Advanced Display Core Processor (ADCP) II.

The F-15E is receiving the Eagle Passive/Active Warning Survivability System (EPAWSS) self-protection system. The F-15EX has a 20,000-hour airframe service life, according to Boeing. In an official Justification and Approval document from 2020, the Air Force stated that the objective of the F-15EX program is to rapidly develop, integrate, and field the F-15EX weapon system to refresh/replace aging F-15C/D aircraft, and that a decision to also refresh F-15E aircraft has not yet been made but remains an option.

The Air National Guard is pushing Congress to approve multiyear funding for the acquisition of between 72 and 100 new fighters each year. Four F-15EXs assigned to Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, flew over the Gulf of Mexico. An F-15EX assigned to Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, flew a training mission over the southeast United States.

Air Force Lt. Col. Matthew Olde exited an F-15EX at Selfridge Air National Guard Base, Michigan. An F-15EX fired an AIM-120D missile during a test mission near Eglin Air Force Base, Florida. An F-15E from Mountain Home Air Force Base, Idaho, carrying a B61 Joint Test Assembly, departed Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, for the Tonopah Test Range.

An F-15C assigned to the 123rd Fighter Squadron, Portland Air National Guard Base, Oregon, taxied to the runway at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada. An F-15EX assigned to the 85th Test and Evaluation Squadron, Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, prepared to take off at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada. F-15 Eagle Crew Chiefs inspected their aircraft on the flight line at Kadena Air Base, Japan.

The F-15EX sits alongside an F-15E Strike Eagle at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida.