What You Need to Know: The U.S. Air Force's F-15EX Eagle II is set to replace the aging F-15C/D fleet, initially tasked with homeland defense, but its role may expand dramatically. Boeing and the Air Force are exploring new uses for the Eagle II, including serving as a drone coordinator for unmanned systems, an electronic warfare platform, and a high-capacity missile truck.

-Additionally, the F-15EX may be developed as a tactical refueling tanker to support forward operations.

-While lacking stealth, the Eagle II’s versatility, payload capacity, and future integration with collaborative combat aircraft (CCA) could make it a pivotal asset in both defense and offensive operations.

In June of this year, the Air National Guard’s 142nd Wing in Portland, Oregon received America’s first operational F-15EX Eagle II – a revamped iteration of the legendary air superiority fighter intended to replace the nation’s aging fleet of F-15C and D fighters. These non-stealthy but highly capable fighters will be tasked with assuming the homeland defense role, but both Boeing and the Air Force are already looking at the possibility of expanding the responsibilities of these broadly capable fighters for decidedly more offensive operations.

With development on America’s next air superiority fighter, being developed under the name Next Generation Air Dominance or NGAD, now on hold, the Air Force is developing strategies aimed at ensuring the United States maintains its dominant edge in the sky even if its new high-end fighter takes years to manifest. New investments into the F-22 Raptor fleet, made up of just 150 or so combat-coded jets, aim to ensure they remain the most dominant air superiority fighters on the planet through the 2030s, and the forthcoming Block 4 F-35 promises to be perhaps the most broadly capable jet on the planet by the time it enters service. But war games played out both within the Defense Department and by a variety of external think tanks all point toward the reality that these fighter fleets would not be enough to overwhelm Chinese defenses on their own in the event of open war in the Pacific.

It has become clear that in order to deter such a conflict, or barring that win it, the United States will need a large volume of airframes delivering an ever larger volume of ordnance into the........

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