By Kris Osborn, President, Center for Military Modernization
(Washington D.C.) Would an ability to fire hypersonic weapons, detect long-range threats with advanced radar, operate with unprecedented computer processing speed and carry a large weapons payload enable the new Air Force F-15EX aircraft to compensate for its lack of stealth in a major high-end fight?
F-15EX
This seems to be the central question of great relevance to the Air Force’s arriving F-15EX, a “4th-generation plus” type of modified aircraft engineered with a wide range of potentially paradigm-changing upgrades and enhancements. The F-15 EX can, for example, enter combat with a massive and highly lethal payload, something which might allow the aircraft to function as a follow-on “weapons truck” once forward operating, stealthy 5th-gen aircraft have established air superiority. In fact, Air Force officials cited in a recent article in the EurAsian Times, say the new variant of the F-15EX is now breaking weapons payload and delivery records by demonstrating an ability to operate with 12 air-to-air missiles. The news report says the F-15EX can ultimately carry 13.6 tons of payload.
In recent years, the US Air Force F-13EX has blasted onto the scene in recent years as this kind of highly advanced “4th-generation plus” type of aircraft intended to pick up key missions perhaps less suitable for a stealthy 5th-gen F-35. However, while essentially a 4th-generation airframe, the US Air Force and Boeing have for many years been building upon extensive upgrades to the 1980s-era F-15, improvements which massively improve the performance, technological capacity and combat ability of the airplane. At the same time, some have questioned the utility and strategic rationale behind building the F-15EX given that part of the intent was budget-driven, meaning it represented an effort to decrease modernization expenses in part generated by Pentagon plans for a large 5th-generation and 6th-generation fleet. The Air Force is now acquiring a number of F-15EX aircraft, however the actual number or planned fleet size may remain somewhat in flux.
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An interesting recent essay in 19FortyFive cites that the F-15 recently broke records in terms of “quantity of tonnage” it is able to carry into war, something which could arguably introduce a “weapons-truck” kind of attack aircraft to support forward operating 5th-generation aircraft.
The technological enhancements built into the F-13EX arguably make it much more effective than any existing 4th-generation aircraft as it is engineered with a new suite of electronic warfare, AESA(Active Electronically Scanned Array) radar, high-speed computer processing and even an ability to fire new generations of weapons. The thinking, as explained by developers, is to engineer a highly capable aircraft able to pick up key high-risk missions which may not necessarily require a 5th or 6th-generation plane. Some have questioned the wisdom of building a non-stealthy F-15EX, given that major adversaries are likely to soon operate with threatening levels of 5th-generation stealth aircraft. It may not be clear just how many J-20s the Chinese will have in the future, and Russia is now building a relatively small number of Su-57s thus far, the 5th-generation air threat posed by both Russia and China is quite significant as something which arguably may requires the US and its allies to “mass” larger formations of networking F-35s and new 6th-generation aircraft.
In recent years, Boeing developers have said that the F-15EXs Advanced Display Corps Processor performs 87-billion computing functions per second. This and other F-15EX attributes, however, may not compensate for a clear lack of stealth. The lack of stealth suggests that the F-15EX could indeed be quite vulnerable to now highly advanced Russian and Chinese air defenses. Russian S-400 and S-500 air-defense systems are claimed by the Russian press to operate with an ability to find and destroy stealth aircraft. This may or may not actually be true, as establishing an “engagement” track on 5th-generation stealth fighters is much harder than simply “detecting” that something is in the area. However, Russian air defenses, and possibly Chinese HQ-9s, are believed to operate on a wider range of frequencies, detect aircraft and higher altitudes and use digital networking and processing to connect otherwise disparate threat detection nodes to one another.
As for its many attributes, the F-15EX may reportedly fire hypersonic weapons, hit speeds of Mach 2.5 and operate with one of the fastest computer processors ever to exist in combat aircraft. Therefore, so the actual extent to which the F-15EX could actually rival or challenge the Chinese J-20 or Russian Su-57 may not be fully known, it does appear possible the the new “4th-gen-plus” aircraft might be well positioned to destroy Russian and Chinese 4th generation fighters, of which there are many.
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With this kind of weapons carrying capacity, the F-15EX could function in close coordination with 5th-generation counterparts and operate as a critical phase or “follow-on” attack platform able to inflict devastation upon enemy targets. However, does the Air Force need a massively upgraded, yet expensive F-15EX to accomplish this, should it primarily prove useful in a permissive environment where air superiority is established? Perhaps not. Should air supremacy be established, then it seems most if not all 4th-generation aircraft or even larger platforms such as the B-52 might prove sufficient. Given this, could the F-15EX aircraft be an expensive, combat capable jet without a clear mission? Potentially, as many of the missions for which the F-15EX might be best well suited could also be performed by much less-expansive or combat-capable aircraft such as F-16s, F-18s or larger bombers.
At the same time, should there be a need to destroy an adversary with a fleet of primarily 4th-generation aircraft, then the F-15 EXs enhanced radar, targeting, computing and weapons capacity could prove extremely impactful. After all, the Russians are not believed to be operating substantial numbers of 5th-generation Su-57s, and a “4th-generation plus” F-15EX might prove extremely effective in an air-engagement with Russia given that the majority of the Russian air fleet remains 4th generation fighters. China likely involves a similar dynamic, however the PLA Air Force is believed to operate impactful numbers of J-20s. At the same time, although the J-20 is hyped by China as a high-capable 5th-generation stealth fighter, it is by no means certain that it would instantly or always
prevail in an engagement with an F-15EX.
At the same time, regardless of what an F-15 EX might face in the air, it would likely have a lot of trouble operating against advanced Russian and Chinese air defense systems increasingly able to detect aircraft with greater precision at much longer ranges. Also, using digital processing and networking technologies, advanced air defenses such as the Russian-built S-400s are able to pass along threat track data and anticipate where an aircraft may be for targeting missions.
Weighing these factors, many might wonder if the Air Force’s rationale for acquiring F-15EX airplanes is sufficiently well-placed in light of today’s threat environment.
Kris Osborn is the Military Editor of 19 Forty Five and President of Warrior Maven – Center for Military Modernization. Osborn previously served at the Pentagon as a Highly Qualified Expert with the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army—Acquisition, Logistics & Technology. Osborn has also worked as an anchor and on-air military specialist at national TV networks. He has appeared as a guest military expert on Fox News, MSNBC, The Military Channel, and The History Channel. He also has a Masters Degree in Comparative Literature from Columbia University.
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