Boeing Woos India with Customized F-15EX Jet in Fighter Competition

Boeing is pulling out all the stops to win India's massive fighter jet contract. They're offering a specially-tailored F-15EX Eagle II with upgrades just for the Indian Air Force (IAF), and the chance to use Indian-made weapons. This puts them head-to-head against rivals like the Rafale and Eurofighter Typhoon for the lucrative 114-jet deal.

Boeing emphasizes the F-15EX's flexibility. While specific upgrades remain secret, they could involve avionics, sensors, or other systems to perfectly match the IAF's needs. Crucially, Boeing is also open to using Indian weapons systems on the F-15EX – a major boost to India's goal of defense self-reliance.

Boeing highlights the F-15EX's sheer power compared to the Rafale. Nearly as big as the IAF's existing Su-30MKI, it can haul a massive 22 missiles – even hypersonic ones. This firepower, plus its long-range capabilities, could be a major draw.

Cost is another selling point. Boeing claims the F-15EX is notably cheaper than both the Rafale and Eurofighter, both to buy and operate over its 20,000-hour lifespan.

One challenge for Boeing is the IAF's lack of experience with US jets. However, their existing presence in India with C-17s, Apaches, and Chinooks shows they understand the market.

Boeing's customized approach and willingness to integrate Indian weapons make this a bold play. Competition is fierce, but the F-15EX's mix of power, cost-effectiveness, and adaptability could make it a serious contender.

 

[Akshat]

Wars are not won merely by hardware. If that was the case then Israel wouldn't have won the Six Day war or the Yom Kippur War or Iraq wouldn't have lost the Iraq-Iran War and most importantly US wouldn't have lost in Vietnam.

But when you lose a war, everything is questioned. It includes equipment, tactics, leadership, training etc. Unless and until something or someone shines exceptionally.

 

[Pad UwU]

Yeah. A Russian missile on F15. And a European one which EU has refused to put on foreign planes. Great imagination.

Your just a French dala who's full of negative thoughts😹😹😹... You are very well known for it bruh🙃

Can't even accept that f15ex is above your rafale f3 that always bragging 😜

 

[Pad UwU]

Has Kyiv being captured? Considering the difference in the 2 countries and Put!n’s own claims of winning in a week, delaying them for so long itself is nothing short of victory for Ukraine.

Another delulu... Did Zelensky recaptured his lost territories while bragging about his fake news proganda of winning 😹😹😹.... Your claims of 2weeks winning are came from western media, and the Russian didn't even mention what your claims as far as I remember when I saw it's news of special military operations 🙃...

AFAIK they temporarily stop attacking Kyiv because Russian and Ukraine are dealing a treaty mediated by Turkiye but in last minute trash by Zelensky when he learned that the drunken Russian stop attacking and slowly retreating... Well Zelensky did a nice job of betraying their deal to fight back against Russian 😹😹😹.... But still bruh your full of fake news narrative that came from western media... Erdogan got frustrated of the mediation he's cooking for both Russia and Ukraine to prove that Turks are reliable NATO partner who can deal some regional issues 😹

 

[Pad UwU]

They might not be winning, but Russia was seen as the second strongest military force while Ukraine was so far behind. All they lost are few territories, while Russia hasn't won the war with such superior force. Idk if the problem is with equipment or training, but still, it's absurd.

How can the Russian has superior force when Putin can't or hasn't been using Russian Federation full military forces.... 85% of his soldiers are just bunch of military volunteer that are not really for major war that why he had Wagner to fight in... Sadly Wagner chief is so ambition to kick out Putin's general and be decorated to the ranks of likes......

I won't consider Russian using full force when they don't event using their nukes😹😹😹. If Putin wants a real major war he should throw some nukes like US did without any care about consequences 😜...
Old Putin is testing the water to try out some of his old trashy rusty shovels and newer ones if western shovels are better than his

 

[Pad UwU]

Joining GCAP would be one of the best decisions along with buying F15. But politics won't allow that.

That I agree with you, but dang it's because of our blindsided hatred seeded to us by our politicians and history teacher to British because of colonization 😹😹😹😹.... Well who knows what future might shows us if we can convert those Brit's to indianize themselves then joining GCAP might be possible

 

[Pad UwU]

While F15 is probably the best fighter offered, politically we have to see what will happen

I hopefully want f15ex to have indianize version....😺

 

[Indian1]

Better than rafale, cheaper than rafale.

 

[Indian1]

F 15 ex price is 1/3 the price of rafale.

 

[Indian1]

Another delulu... Did Zelensky recaptured his lost territories while bragging about his fake news proganda of winning 😹😹😹.... Your claims of 2weeks winning are came from western media, and the Russian didn't even mention what your claims as far as I remember when I saw it's news of special military operations 🙃...

Weapons and ammunition flowed freely into Ukraine from numerous countries from day one. Even beggars like Pakistan supplying several plane loads of ammunition daily. Russia has no courage to Stop this. US and NATO providing intelligence to Ukraine to strike Russian assets. All these weapons used to massacre Russian soldiers. But nobody is bothered about the well being of Russian soldiers and civilians. Even after 100 years of fighting, Russia will not advance on Ukraine territory.

 

[War is good for business]

But when you lose a war, everything is questioned. It includes equipment, tactics, leadership, training etc. Unless and until something or someone shines exceptionally.

Then what's the difference between a defence enthusiast and a layman watching WhatsApp videos? We knew from public domain that Russian Pilots trained a meagre 90-110 hrs a year compared to the IAF's 180 hrs. And still the Russian pilots retained enough skill to completely dominate the air battle? Ukrainian Air Defences are formidable, even more so than our own, which an airforce smaller than ours failed to beat. Likely this question will be answered more clearly in the coming months, when the somewhat battle hardened Russian pilots will start to face F-16s.

 

[Pink Panther]

Yeah…when Taiwan itself didn’t get F16, already manufactured widely and no training or support is needed, for less than 120 million dollars, without any weapons, we will surely get them for 80 million USD. And when everyone is getting Rafale second tranche for 150 million usd and we are already getting massive discounts, we will buy them for double the price. Sure sure.

France charged $60 Mln for upgrading antique Mirages without AESA radar or ability to fire either Meteor or Indian missiles, do you think they will only charge $150Mln for Rafale F4, especially with the 300 orders backlog, impossible, it won’t be one penny less than $275Mln.

 

[lifeisroblox]

Maybe it's not too late we should just jump in GCAP 6gen aircraft if AMCA would go woe and faqup delay 😕

We should definitely join GCAP. And if the trend continues, 6th gen fighters will be significantly more expensive to purchase and operate compared to 5th and 4th gens. Even now 5th gen fighters are hangar queens most of the time. I personally think we should get a few 5th gens regardless, and ditch AMCA completely, and turning the focus to 4th/4.5th gen fighters instead, since they'll be the main jets for quite some time, and there will be a lot of them compared to the "specialist" fighters so if we can indigenise that part it'd be a huge benefit for us. We need to grow our economy and move towards heavy industrialisation before thinking big, no offence. Right now AMCA is just a waste of time, the product will be suboptimal and it'll come at a time when the world's big players will be operating 6th gens and their 5th gens will be very mature, while ours will need another decade or two of experience to improve.

 

[Pink Panther]

Nope, Pak has F16 experience, so they know about its basics. F15 is not much known and far better than F21

but it will be redundant and more expensive than F16 Block 70/72.

 

[lifeisroblox]

su-30mki kicks the f15 any day of the week. Now, the upgraded model f-15ex might be better, but then we too are upgrading the su30mki. su-30mki is cheaper and so better for us.

AMCA , su30mki upgrade would be best. f-15ex is waste of resources duplicating maal we already have.

I don't think I agree with the first sentence. F15s have superior sensors and BVR capabilities, the latest ones atleast. It there's one thing you can trust the Americans in, it's tech, they know their tech.

I can understand the cheaper argument. But you have to realise our adversaries are operating lethal jets too. We cannot counter Chinese jets with our current fleet, they have the technical and numerical advantage. We can balance this by getting technically superior jets ourselves, like f15s.

 

[Amit Ray]

"Atmanirbharta" is nothing more than a political slogan. Practically every defence project is mismanaged. From unrealistic requirements of armed forces, funding issues from Govt., underperforming R&D to poor manufacturing standards, little has been achieved.

You people always criticize without having a basic understanding of how industrialization takes place. Our defence industries were not developed and neglected for decades. After this govt came to power they made special efforts and started overhauling the existing defence industries and slowly their efforts are giving some results. It will take a lots of time and money to produce world class defence products. Most countries manufacturing defence platforms started many decades earlier US developed their industry after WW II, same with France, UK, Europe. Koreans started after the Korean war, Chinese started many decades earlier. You wake up suddenly and expect to catch up with them. Not possible, period.

 

[Amit Ray]

500,000 might sound like a lot but it isn't, not in a large scale war. The production capacity is welcome but quality control has been a issue in the recent past. Shells can be supplied via intermediaries, just like the Indian companies are involved in selling western electronic components to Russia.

You please stop this nonsense of supplying to Ukraine, a pro pak country as far as Kashmir is concerned. It will never happen and you are yet to realize what our PM is all about.

 

[Amit Ray]

Bro, let’s be honest. Putin invaded because he wanted to. No one forced it. The pro-Russian government opened fire on protestors on its own. The then temporary Ukrainian government (after the revolution) of the time had said publicly that they won’t be a part of NATO and will honor security concerns of Russia. Even before the latest invasion, Ukraine had not even filled the form for NATO and no one was even supplying any major weapons. Germany and most of EU was trying to please Put!n like H!tler was pleased. So let’s not be under any delusion.

No you are wrong, there are various reasons why Putin attacked Ukraine. The NATO'S conference at Bucharest in 2008 where they decided to induct Ukraine and Georgia to be a part of NATO and Russia become furious as West was trying to use this two countries as springboard to counter Russia at its borders. Russia decided to capture Crimea as it is important sea port where Russia can operate their warships in case the West comes calling at its borders. But they didn't have direct access to this port so they were trying to carve out a direct path from Russia thru Ukraine. As a matter of fact US is completely responsible for this war. This was also the assessment of various US scholars which you might find if you google it.

 

[Amit Ray]

Has Kyiv being captured? Considering the difference in the 2 countries and Put!n’s own claims of winning in a week, delaying them for so long itself is nothing short of victory for Ukraine.

Kyiv was never meant to be captured. You people don't stray out of your domain. World's geopolitical strategy is not for you, you please stay within your field of expertise. You don't seem to know the history.

 

[Pink Panther]

Has Kyiv being captured? Considering the difference in the 2 countries and Put!n’s own claims of winning in a week, delaying them for so long itself is nothing short of victory for Ukraine.

Ukraine sits on Russian land 😴🙄😥, who knows in a few months 🤡sky might be sitting in proper Russian Gulag land in Siberia.

 

[Pink Panther]

Another delulu... Did Zelensky recaptured his lost territories while bragging about his fake news proganda of winning 😹😹😹.... Your claims of 2weeks winning are came from western media, and the Russian didn't even mention what your claims as far as I remember when I saw it's news of special military operations 🙃...

Ukrainians and 🤡sky retreating from the treaty is the best thing that could have happened to Russia.

 

[Ajath]

500,000 might sound like a lot but it isn't, not in a large scale war. The production capacity is welcome but quality control has been a issue in the recent past. Shells can be supplied via intermediaries, just like the Indian companies are involved in selling western electronic components to Russia.

Indian artillery will play a big role in the Western front. Read Pakistan. It has huge plains for Artilleries and armoured
columns to jostle around. With Chinese front , submarines , warships precision missiles, Airforce and ballastic missiles will play a big role. Artillery has limited role to play on high altitudes. So five hundred thousand shells is good enough for now.

 

[Harsh]

Ukrainian Air Defences are formidable, even more so than our own, which an airforce smaller than ours failed to beat.

Which planet do you live on?

 

[Harsh]

And yet Kyiv is not captured.

Kyiv is not even on Putin’s menu.

 

[Bikramjeet Goswami]

First batch will come in 2028

That is a highly optimistic view considering we are now in 2024.

 

[desigandu]

F-15 EX is a great option but given we have Su-30MKIs that are being upgraded therefore feel they are both in the same class/capability...Criteria for MRFA should be the following - 1. capability; 2. lifecycle cost; 3. TOT and Engines, upgrades, Indian weapons, MRO, export potential etc.; 4. Geopolitics; so IAF should compare F-15EX to Rafales and also take into account that we already have 36 Rafales and are Ordering 26 Rafales-Ms, so which will be better...Seems Rafales may be more expensive (given France's low volumes) but given the other factors including speed, GOI should decide fast in G2G deal...Another thing to think about is if we get the F-15EX will the Americans also give us 48-60 F-35As, together...If so it can be a good stopgap till our AMCA's start coming out in numbers by 2035.