Aircraft

Boeing is talking to overseas operators of the F-15 about radar upgrades, after receiving a $70 million contract to start retrofitting US Air Force and Air National Guard F-15Cs with Raytheon's APG-63(V)3 active electronically scanned array.

Six ANG air-defence F-15Cs will be upgraded from the APG-63(V)1 to the (V)3 by replacing the mechanically scanned antenna with an AESA using transmit/receive module technology from the APG-79 radar in Boeing's F/A-18E/F Super Hornet.

The (V)3 reuses software developed for the earlier APG-63(V)2 AESA fitted in the late 1990s to 18 USAF F-15Cs originally based in Alaska and recently moved to Kadena AFB in Japan. The (V)3 antenna is lighter and less expensive, says Boeing.

The first ANG F-15Cs will be retrofitted in 2009 and stationed in Jacksonville, Florida. The guard plans to upgrade six to eight aircraft a year - enough to equip one base - for a total of around 50 AESA-equipped F-15Cs, the company says.

Boeing's contract also includes the first (V)3 upgrade of an active USAF F-15C. This will serve as a spare for the (V)2-equipped aircraft in Kadena, but is the start of a plan to ultimately upgrade the 170 F-15Cs it plans to retain until 2025.

A competition to upgrade the USAF's 220 F-15E strike fighters with an AESA sensor is also under way, with Raytheon's APG-63(V)4 competing against a derivative of Northrop Grumman's APG-81 for the Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.