F-15EX Radar Win Buoys Raytheon Market Hopes
Air Force F-15Es carry Raytheon’s AN/APG-82(V)1 AESA radar, which also will equip the initial eight F-15EX fighters. Raytheon image.
WASHINGTON: Raytheon hopes its new contract with Boeing for an initial eight radar systems for the F-15EX is only a first step and its AN/APG-82 radar gets tapped for the entire future fleet, says Michelle Styczynski, F-15 senior product line director for Raytheon Intelligence & Space.
The award, announced last Thursday, is a one-time deal for an unspecified amount, Styczynski told Breaking D today, but “obviously we would love to continue to partner with Boeing and the US Air Force to continue bringing them AN/APG-82.”
Boeing was awarded a 10-year indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity (ID/IQ) contract July 13 for at least 144 F-15EXs with a ceiling of $22.9 billion that includes 15 years of support. The contract includes options for up to 200 aircraft.
Raytheon’s APG-82(V)1 radar is an active electronically scanned array (AESA) that equips the Air Force’s current F-15E Strike Eagle fleet, with the company in June winning a contract worth up to $202.6 million to sustain the system through 2024. Raytheon delivered its first APG-82(V)1 radar to Boeing for integration with the F-15E way back in 20210. Styczynski said that the only upgrades required for the new F-15EX are software changes to integrate the radar with the Eagle Passive/Active Warning and Survivability System (EPAWSS).
EPAWSS, by BAE Systems, is an integrated digital avionics system designed to protect the F-15E against enemy air defense systems. The Air Force in April started testing EPAWSS at Edwards AFB. Part of that testing is to “establish and provide verification of the interoperability and RF (radio frequency) compatibility among the EPAWSS, the AN/APG-82 radar and various existing avionics at the installed system level on the aircraft, as it would fly versus in a system lab,” Ed Sabat, Project Development Lead and Civilian Director of Operations, 772nd Test Squadron. said in April.
But, Styczynski explained, Raytheon is also pitching the Air Force options for to ensure that the venerable AN/APG-82 can be made interoperable with not only other on-board sensors, but also those of other aircraft as part of a future hyper-connected battle management network.
The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center updated its original July 13 “F-15 Roadmap Candidate Collection” Request for Information( RFI) seeking vendor info on potential technology and capability improvements for F-15EX Advanced Eagle production and/or for incorporation into the legacy F-15E fleet. The roadmap is helping the service envision a wholistic strategy to being able to equip the fighters with new capabilities over time, including the ability to link with other platforms. The deadline for bids was Aug. 21.
Specifically, the RFI asked for tech related to six general categories where the Air Force has found “gaps” (the specific gaps are classified) it wants filled:
- “Prosecute – ability to engage and eliminate targets
- Survive – ability to live through engagements with enemy systems
- Persist – ability to extend operations in the required environments
- Interoperability – ability to effectively communicate with other weapon systems
- Maintain – ability to sustain the F-15E/EX fleets
- Train – ability to support operator and maintainer training.”
“Within Raytheon itself, we provided multiple responses to that RFI in multiple situations, bundling with other sensors to offer better communications, and different things like that,” Styczynski said. “So, yeah, we are an older radar, but there are different ways that we can still integrate with other sensors on the plane and other other [generation] aircraft to expand our capabilities and get the warfighter what they need.”
As Breaking D readers are well aware, the Air Force envisions an Advanced Battle Management System (ABMS) family of systems connecting sensors and shooters across the air, space, land, sea and cyberspace domains. Boeing has been in discussions with the Air Force about how the F-15EX might serve as an ABMS test bed, and perhaps as a future node in the system as well as an “enabler” for the emerging Digital Century Series. ABMS, of course, is seen by the service as the foundational element of DoD’s high-priority Joint All Domain Command and Control (JADC2) network capable of running high-end war with China and Russia.
Raytheon also is in the throes of getting the APG-82 delivered to Qatar for its fleet of F-15QA fighters, Styczynski said. Qatar signed a contract for 36 fighters with Boeing in 2017 under the Foreign Military Sales program.
Further, she added, Raytheon is working a campaign to sell the radar to other foreign customers, despite the restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic making international business more complex and time consuming.
“There’s definitely a big future for the export version of the AN/APG-82,” she enthused.