The new F-15EX Eagle learns new tricks that include an ability to jam enemy air defense systems, just like an F-35. It gets better and still is a flying arsenal that carries one of the planes with most weapons in the U.S. aerial fleet.
Sources say the U.S. is trying to attract countries like India to buy the F-15EX Eagle. It is installed in the electronics warfare module that is one of its selling points.
Jam Enemy Air Defense Systems, an old warbird, learns new tricks.
The aerospace firm McDonell Douglas-Boeing touted the newest ability of the F-15EX, called the EPAWSS electronic warfare system. It is made by British firm BAE getting the $58-million contract to equip the improved dual-engine fighters. They produced the 4th generation fighter for sale to other countries, India, as one of the nations offered the legendary combat platform reported by Eurasian Times.
According to the developers, the EPAWSS (Eagle Passive Active Warning Survivability System) collects systems that electronically counter radar and other electronic defense systems. For a 4th generation fighter to scan, clog up, and fool or spoof enemy air defense and E.W. systems is a significant upgrade.
An EPAWSS has more tricks that it can do, adding to how dangerous an F-15EX can be despite its age with old-school fighter advantages. For example, the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II has good qualities, but they are not as many compared to the F-15EX when all units have arrived. Flying with the stealth jets, the older fighter has extra protection with EPAWSS to jam enemy air defense systems.
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When the EPAWSS is warmed up, its different functions detect radar radiation. It has a GEO locator, situational awareness, and other self-protection solutions to keep alive in most missions it is sent. Compared to older F-15 models, it has an extra function to overcome both air and land-based threats anywhere where adversaries are.
Conflict areas where the upgraded F-15EX can operate are Syria, Iraq, Libya, South China Sea, Ladakh, and the Nagorno-Karabakh war. This combat area will not always need an F-35 or F-22 Raptor, where EPAWSS equipped F-15EX are enough to fight in not so high-end combat. The U.S. leads in advanced and conventional fighters; they got the EX Eagle to replace the F-15E Strike Eagle, an older model.
Why is it an important update
One of the legacy fighters of the United States Air Force (USAF) is getting old and needs refreshing. One of its old updated EPAWSS is an older version, called the AN/ALQ-135 Tactical Electronic Warfare System (TEWS). The new electronic warfare system has extra antennas on parts of the airframe that is not on older F-15 models.
Experts say this upgrade will carry the F-15EX into the 2040s or more. EPAWSS will allow less danger of getting shot down or at the mercy of modern air defense radars and artillery. Compared to the TEWS, it is a vast improvement over an outdated system.
Aside from jamming enemy air defense systems, the F-15EX carries 22 air-to-air missiles with more extras like AESA radar. The most important is a service life of 20,000 flight hours that will keep it flying longer. It will eventually replace all F-15Cs of the Air National Guard slowly as the USAF orders are delivered.
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