A new wrink
le has been added to the tacair choices facing the new Administration. Yesterday, Boeing unveiled its new F-15SE, the “Silent Eagle,” an aircraft which it claims will have a degree of stealth permitted under US export rules. It achieves that feat via several design changes: using conformal pallets that can carry weapons and fuel internally, canting the vertical fins outward, and applying stealth coatings across the whole aircraft. The SE also will incoporate the F-15E Strike Eagle’s digital electronic warfare suite and AESA radar. There are ways to address the large radar cross section of the F-15’s fan blades, but those would depend on what technologies the US government deems releasable, Brad Jones, Boeing’s F-15 Future Fighters program manager, told the Daily Report. The new conformal weapons pallets are interchangeable with the previous, fuel-only conformal fuel tanks, and therefore don’t change the F-15SE’s aerodynamics. Boeing calculates the flyaway cost of an F-15SE at about $100 million, including some spares and additional maintenance gear. The stealthy mods are also available as a retrofit for existing F-15 customers, although the company would not quote a price. (Also see Boeing release)
A provision in the fiscal 2025 defense policy bill will require the Defense Department to include the military occupational specialty of service members who die by suicide in its annual report on suicide deaths, though it remains to be seen how much data the department will actually disclose.