Boeing says it has successfully launched a missile for the first time from the new conformal weapons bay designed for the company’s new F-15 fighter variant called the Silent Eagle. Boeing’s F-15E1 demonstration aircraft has been fitted with the CWB. It made its debut flight with the bay on July 8 in St. Louis. The missile firing occurred six days later at Point Mugu NAWS, Calif., according to a company release. Boeing F-15 chief test pilot Dan Draeger fired an inert AIM-120 air-to-air missile from the aircraft’s left-side CWB. “The F-15, CWB, and missile performed exactly as we predicted,” said Draeger. Boeing said the test demonstrated the CWB’s flightworthiness and ability to deploy the missile “with no adverse effect on the performance of the aircraft or the CWB itself.” The Silent Eagle features radar cross section-reduction features in addition to CWBs.
The Air Force and Boeing agreed to a nearly $2.4 billion contract for a new lot of KC-46 aerial tankers on Nov. 21. The deal, announced by the Pentagon, is for 15 new aircraft in Lot 11 at a cost of $2.389 billion—some $159 million per tail.