Loren Thompson of the Lexington Institute says he doesn’t think Boeing’s “stealth” F-15 proposal is aimed at getting the Air Force to buy more F-15s, which are a bit cheaper than F-22s. Rather, the target audience is foreign operators who want stealth in a high-end fighter but “can’t have” the F-22, Thompson told an audience Wednesday at a Mitchell Institute airpower forum in Washington, D.C. (see above). Boeing’s tactic is a good one in that it offers a chance for F-15 operators outside the US to upgrade equipment they already have, Thompson said. As far as Boeing trying to get the Air Force to spend money on new F-15s versus the F-22, Thompson said there’s no logic in it, since “Boeing makes one-third of the F-22.”
An important U.S. Air Force E-3 Sentry AWACS command and control plane was among the aircraft damaged in a March 27 Iranian missile and drone attack on Prince Sultan Air Base, Saudi Arabia, people familiar with the matter told Air & Space Forces Magazine.