The Air Force is more than doubling the planned size of its new F-15EX Eagle II fleet, increasing the number of fighters it aims to buy from 129 to 267.
An Air Force spokesperson confirmed the new purchase plan to Air & Space Forces Magazine and said it includes the 24 F-15EXs the service plans to buy in fiscal 2027. The new fleet total was first reported by Breaking Defense.
“This will complete building existing F-15EX units and then begin to recapitalize the aging F-15E fleet,” the spokesperson said.
There are currently about 25 EXs in the Air Force inventory, and the service has agreed on contracts with Boeing for more than 100 of the fighters, which are upgraded versions of the F-15 that feature advanced avionics, fly-by-wire controls, and improved electronic warfare capabilities.
In an April 21 budget briefing with reporters at the Pentagon, Air Force officials said the service needs to buy both the F-15EX along with the F-35A, because their different capabilities work together to balance out the fighter portfolio.
“There are fundamental differences in what we’re looking for in a platform like the F-15EX, as compared to other advanced fifth-generation and sixth-generation fighters,” an official said. “And when you break down the specifics of what that airplane can do, in its specific carriage capability, is the number of [weapons] rails that it has, and its role in the Pacific theater, there is a specific need for it. It’s about a balanced portfolio in order to meet combatant command and joint service requirements.”
The new goal of buying 267 jets is a dramatic increase after multiple tweaks to the purchase plan in recent years:
- When the Air Force first awarded Boeing the F-15EX contract in 2020, it said it would buy as many as 144 of the fighters.
- In 2022, officials reduced the plan to just 80 jets, citing resource constraints.
- In 2023, leaders added 24 fighters back to the budget, for a total fleet of 104, but said they would go no further.
- In 2025, the planned fleet size grew once more to 129 jets
To date, the Air Force has bought the F-15EX to replace to replace older F-15C and D models, many of which have been flying since the 1980s, as well as the A-10.
But buying an additional 138 EXs to get to a fleet of 267 would allow the Air Force to make significant headway in retiring the F-15E Strike Eagle too—the service currently has 216 F-15Es in its inventory and previously outlined plans to retire all but 99 of them, keeping only E models with the newer F100-PW-229 engines.
The expanded buy could also help the Air Force hit its goal of buying at least 72 new fighters each year. Officials say they need at least that many aircraft to reverse the long-term trend of the fighter fleet getting older and smaller over time.
The Air Force’s 2027 budget request would buy 62 new fighters, including 38 F-35As and 24 F-15EXs. In 2026, it is buying just 24 F-35s and 22 F-15EXs.