The Air Force has awarded Boeing a $130 million contract to upgrade eight active duty and eight Air National Guard F-15C fighters with the APG-63(V)3 active electronically scanned array radar, the company announced March 17. Raytheon builds the radar and is the subcontractor to Boeing. USAF plans to install AESA radars on 177 F-15C/Ds and maintain these airplanes out to around 2025. This contract is the second award for this work, following a September 2007 contract to install the radar on six ANG F-15Cs. “The F-15C AESA radar system combines the best elements of our F-15 and F/A-18 AESA radar technology, which we’re constantly refining,” Tom Kennedy, vice president for the Tactical Airborne Systems group at Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems, said in the company’s release. The Air Force already operates 18 F-15Cs with Raytheon’s APG-63(V)2 radar. These aircraft were originally based at Elmendorf AFB, Alaska, but moved last year to Kadena AB, Japan, once F-22s started arriving at Elmendorf.
The Space Force may establish a combatant component in Japan soon, Chief of Space Operations Gen. B. Saltzman said in a news conference in Tokyo on Sept. 25. According to multiple media reports, Saltzman said setting up a new unit in Japan represents the "next phase" in joint initiatives aimed at…