Dick Banholzer, Boeing’s director of business development for USAF fighter, bomber, and weapons programs, is still shopping around a upgraded F-15E+ for the Air Force, despite the Air Force’s insistence that only a fifth generation fighter force will do. “Currently, it’s not on the Air Force’s list,” Banholzer admitted during a Tuesday briefing at AFA’s Air & Space conference in Washington. But, ordering more “Super Eagles” in the event of a delay on the Joint Strike Fighter may be economical—coming in at approximately $59 million a pop. Leveraging an experienced production line along with new electronic warfare capabilities and improved sensor suites, the F-15E+ would effectively be a “fourth generation plus” aircraft that would be ideal for follow-on threat environments such as operating in Iraq or Afghanistan, said Banholzer. “We’re trying to counter the perception that this is an old airplane,” he explained, adding, “This is not your dad’s Oldsmobile.”
President Donald Trump’s nominee for Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff touted his highly unusual background for the job as an asset and reaffirmed his commitment to stay apolitical during a confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee on April 1.