F-15 Eagle’s in production to mid 2020’s.
Boeing recently gave insight on it’s future hope’s for the “iron eagle” production line. The line, which opened around 1973 has continued to build F-15’s thanks to Boeing’s strategy; keep the line open as long as possible which will automatically lower the price of each airframe and reduce time for the aircraft to be mass produced.
Boeing currently has 144 F-15 Eagle’s at stake with possible contracts. 84 are tied to the Saudi deal, which has yet to be finalized. The Saudi’s are now interested in the F-15 Silent Eagle rather than the proposed F-15SA variant.
The other deal is with South Korea to produce 60 Silent Eagles starting in 2016. This deal has begun a war between Lockheed’s “proposed” F-35 fighter. Other country’s such as Kuwait have also shown interest in new build F-15’s. One interesting note was that Chris Chadwick (President of Boeing military division) stated that there is indeed a small possibility new F-15’s could be built for the Air National Guard. Don’t hold your breath.
Throwing all politics aside, it is becoming pretty amazing that the F-15 line has the high possibility of lasting over 40 years in production. On a personal note, nothing makes me happier than seeing new Eagles flying in the sky.
May the future be bright, and let the Eagle continue to soar high!
(Source: dodbuzz.com)
