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.”
A top Pentagon tech official called on industry this week to help the military develop “lighter, more efficient” directed energy weapons designed to go on aircraft and conduct special operations missions or down drones—areas where the Air Force’s directed energy efforts have been quiet as of late.