The Air Force has awarded Boeing a sole-source contract with a $131.23 billion ceiling covering F-15 production, modernization and sustainment for U.S. and foreign customers through 2037. The award, designated F-15 Eagle Crest, establishes a long-term ordering framework rather than committing the government to buy a specified number of aircraft at signing. Defense News reported that the contract was awarded Aug. 24.
The ceiling is the maximum value the Air Force may order over the contract’s life, not a guaranteed expenditure. Orders may be placed through Aug. 24, 2031, with an option to extend ordering through 2036. The broader contract covers work through 2037, including new aircraft production, upgrades, retrofits, sustainment and depot support.
Only $343,740 in fiscal 2026 research, development, test and evaluation funds was obligated when the award was made. The notice included no order for F-15 aircraft. That distinction makes the headline value a measure of potential purchasing authority rather than the value of equipment already funded.
The structure permits the Air Force to place orders over time for the Air Force, the Air National Guard and foreign military customers. It brings new production, upgrades, retrofits, sustainment and depot support under one contract framework. The award itself does not specify how much of the $131.23 billion will ultimately be ordered or when individual aircraft and services will be purchased.
The comparison cited by Defense News illustrates the difference between a contract ceiling and an immediate procurement. In August 2020, the same Air Force contracting office awarded Lockheed Martin a 10-year, $62 billion contract for new F-16 exports and issued a $4.94 billion order for 90 jets on the same day. The Boeing notice contains no equivalent initial aircraft order.
The contract also assigns a role to the Air Force’s depot system. It includes work to establish organic depot maintenance, allowing Air Force depots to conduct heavy overhauls rather than relying exclusively on Boeing for that work. Boeing is slated to perform its portion in St. Louis. The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting activity.
Foreign military sales named in the Aug. 24 notice involve Japan, Israel, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Singapore, Indonesia and Poland. Indonesia and Poland do not currently operate the F-15, while Israel is already buying aircraft from Boeing’s St. Louis production line.
A Dec. 29, 2025, agreement cited in the fiscal 2027 budget’s F-15EX Modernized Selected Acquisition Report covers 25 F-15IA aircraft, with an option for 25 more, at $8.58 billion. The report describes that purchase as supporting the lower-tier supply chain and extending the active manufacturing life of the F-15EX production line. That agreement is identified as an existing Israeli buy, while the Eagle Crest contract provides the larger vehicle for potential future orders and support.
The same report increases the planned U.S. F-15EX purchase to 268 aircraft through fiscal 2031, compared with a baseline of 98 aircraft. It also says the larger buy will require updates to the aircraft’s radar, mission computer, electronic warfare suite and engines. Those figures describe the F-15EX program’s planned U.S. procurement and are separate from the $131.23 billion ceiling, which encompasses potential production, modernization, sustainment and foreign military sales.
The program’s schedule is also under pressure. The report says the F-15EX program will miss its July 2027 full operational capability date after a 15-week strike at Boeing’s St. Louis plant that ran from Aug. 4 to Nov. 17, 2025. It attributes the additional delay to what it calls the prime contractor’s failure to meet production recovery goals after the strike. The stated mitigation measures include reevaluating the definition of full operational capability, changing how the milestone is measured.
The contract thus places potential F-15 orders, upgrades and long-term support under one ceiling, but the immediate financial commitment is limited to $343,740 in fiscal 2026 research, development, test and evaluation funding. Future spending depends on orders placed under the framework, including possible U.S. and foreign aircraft purchases, modernization actions, sustainment work and depot-support requirements.