$131.2B ceiling, $343,740 obligated: Air Force puts all F-15 work for seven nations on one Boeing contract

The money

The ceiling is the headline; the obligation is the fact. Eagle Crest is an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contract, and the only money committed at signing was $343,740 in fiscal 2026 research, development, test and evaluation (RDT&E) funds ^[1]. Defense News notes the notice does not order any jets ^[4]. An Air Force spokesperson told Breaking Defense and Air & Space Forces Magazine that “the ceiling represents capacity for future needs, not a commitment to spend the full amount,” and that each award under the vehicle remains subject to its own decision ^[2, 3]. The service told Breaking Defense the contract “is designed to fund actions related to future F-15 agreements” ^[2].

The ordering period runs to Aug. 24, 2031, with an option to stretch it to Aug. 24, 2036. Work is expected to be complete by August 2037 and will be performed in St. Louis ^[1]. The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting activity, under contract number FA8634-26-D-B001 ^[1].

For scale, Breaking Defense compares it with two earlier vehicles: a $151 billion Golden Dome IDIQ issued in 2025 that went to more than 1,000 awardees, and Lockheed Martin’s August 2020 F-16 export IDIQ, worth up to $62 billion ^[2]. Defense News adds that the 2020 F-16 vehicle, from the same contracting office, came with a $4.94 billion order for 90 jets on day one ^[4]. Eagle Crest came with no such order.

How much is in the fiscal 2027 budget for F-15EX?

The near-term money sits in appropriations, not in the ceiling. The fiscal 2027 request includes $2.66 billion for F-15EX aircraft procurement, which both the House-passed NDAA and the Senate Armed Services Committee’s bill authorize in full ^[5, 6]. The request also carries $214.2 million for F-15EX modifications, $140.2 million for other F-15 modifications, $141.2 million for the F-15 EPAW line, $16.9 million for F-15EX post-production support and $133.3 million in F-15EX RDT&E ^[5]. The Senate committee added $48 million to the F-15E squadrons RDT&E line for an F-15 infrared search and track capability ^[6].

The programs

What does the F-15 Eagle Crest contract cover?

The scope reaches across the whole F-15 enterprise, not one variant. The notice lists production, integration, modernization, retrofits, sustainment and depot stand-up for the Air Force, the Air National Guard “and other Department of War customers” ^[1]. The depot element is new ground: Defense News describes it as building the capability for Air Force depots to perform their own heavy overhauls ^[4].

The production line it would feed is in the middle of a large expansion. According to the F-15EX Modernized Selected Acquisition Report (SAR), as described by Defense News, the U.S. F-15EX buy rises to 268 aircraft through fiscal 2031 from a baseline of 98 ^[4]. Breaking Defense, citing the same report, says the program breached its baseline schedule for full operational capability, which slips about seven months to February 2028; that the larger order “introduces new cost and schedule uncertainties”; and that the Air Force has no cost estimate for the expanded buy while the program is rebaselined ^[2]. The SAR also calls for a technical refresh of the radar, mission computer, electronic warfare suite and engines to deal with diminishing manufacturing sources ^[2, 4].

Defense News reports the SAR attributes the slip to a 15-week strike at Boeing’s St. Louis plant from Aug. 4 to Nov. 17, 2025, “compounded by the prime contractor’s subsequent failure to meet production recovery goals,” and lists “a re-evaluation of the FOC definition” among mitigation steps ^[4]. Breaking Defense reports delays have pushed back deliveries to Kadena Air Base in Okinawa, Japan ^[2].

Which countries can buy F-15s through Eagle Crest?

The notice names Foreign Military Sales to Japan, Israel, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Singapore, Indonesia and Poland ^[1]. The first five already operate the F-15 ^[2]. Israel signed a Dec. 29, 2025 agreement for 25 F-15IA aircraft with an option for 25 more, valued at $8.58 billion, according to the SAR as reported by Defense News, which quotes the report saying the deal “stabilizes the lower-tier supply chain and extends the active manufacturing life of the F-15EX production line” ^[4]. South Korea is upgrading its existing jets ^[2].

The last two names are prospects. Indonesia previously dropped an F-15EX bid, and Poland has not decided to buy, Breaking Defense reports ^[2]. Qatar, whose F-15QA is the basis for the F-15EX, flies the jet but is not on the list ^[2].

For suppliers, the practical effect is one ordering vehicle where U.S. and partner work can be placed without a new contract action for each customer. Heather Penney of the Mitchell Institute told Air & Space Forces Magazine that such contracts “could be a really important way to accelerate the resourcing and capability to the warfighter,” but she also cautioned that an IDIQ lets the service cut purchases from year to year, which can make supply chain planning harder for Boeing, and said the Air Force needs to give the company clear signals on quantities and rates ^[3].

The politics

Both armed services committees have written F-15EX language that goes further than the contract does. The House-passed H.R. 8800 rewrites the Air Force’s fighter floor in 10 U.S.C. 9062, requiring at least 1,800 fighters in the total inventory from Oct. 1, 2026 to Oct. 1, 2035, and combat-coded minimums of 1,369 by the end of 2030 and 1,558 by the end of 2035 ^[5]. The same section lets the Air Force raise planned F-15EX procurement “beyond 267 aircraft” beginning Oct. 1, 2026 ^[5]. Section 161 authorizes multiyear contracts for F-15EX aircraft, initial spares, alternate mission equipment and conformal fuel tanks starting with the fiscal 2027 program year, once the department certifies each jet comes with its full complement of that equipment ^[5]. Topline Report covered the House vote in July (earlier coverage).

The Senate committee’s S. 4784, reported June 15 by Sen. Wicker, takes a different route to the same end. Its Section 133 deems an F-15EX multiyear to meet the statutory findings for multiyear procurement, requires a report on preliminary findings within 90 days of enactment, and bars use of the authority until the Secretary of Defense certifies that the contractor can reach an inventory goal of “not less than 268 F-15EX aircraft by 2035” ^[6]. Both bills allow advance procurement in economic order quantities ^[5, 6].

Outside analysts read the ceiling as a signal of intent. Casey Nicastro of the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments told Breaking Defense it is “one of the bigger contracts recently awarded” and that its size suggests the Air Force believes aircraft like the F-15EX will stay important alongside collaborative combat aircraft and the F-47 ^[2]. John Ferrari of the American Enterprise Institute said foreign sales are “a big piece of this” and that a high ceiling carries “zero downside” ^[2]. Boeing referred questions to the Air Force ^[2].

Next milestone

Fiscal 2027 starts Oct. 1, 2026, and the $2.66 billion F-15EX procurement request depends on a defense appropriations bill or a continuing resolution ^[5]. The House and Senate still have to reconcile their F-15EX multiyear language, 267 versus 268 aircraft and all ^[5, 6]. The Air Force has not said when it will place the first Eagle Crest task order, or what it will buy with it ^[1, 2].