Boeing has been awarded a sole-source contract with a ceiling value of $131.2 billion to build, upgrade and sustain F-15 fighter jets for the U.S. military and a long list of allied air forces, with all of the work centered at the company's plant in St. Louis, Missouri. The indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity deal covers aircraft production, systems integration, upgrades and a new organic depot maintenance effort meant to keep the aging-but-still-in-demand fighter mission-ready for another decade.
The award, reported by Reuters, was made by the U.S. Department of War on a sole-source basis, meaning Boeing was selected without open competition. Contract customers include the U.S. Air Force, the Air National Guard, and foreign military sales to Israel, Japan, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Singapore, Indonesia and Poland, according to the same report. Per Reuters, the ordering period runs through August 24, 2031, with an option to extend ordering through August 24, 2036, and contract work is expected to be completed by August 2037.
A Contracting Framework Years in the Making
The legal groundwork for a sole-source award of this size was laid months earlier. In November 2025, the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center issued a pre-solicitation notice signaling its intent to award the F-15 Eagle Crest IDIQ contract under 10 U.S.C. 3204(a)(1) — the statute that permits sole-source acquisition when officials determine only one responsible source can meet the requirement, according to a notice tracked by GovTribe. That framework, known as the F-15 Eagle Crest program, oversees the F-15 fighter aircraft fleet across its production and sustainment lifespan.
Sole-source awards under this program are not new. The Air Force previously used similar authority to give Boeing an $8.58 billion sole-source contract in December 2025 to build 25 new F-15IA jets for the Israeli Air Force, with an option for 25 more, as reported by The Defence Blog. That Israeli variant carries its own tailored avionics, electronic warfare gear and weapons systems, distinct from the versions built for domestic use.
Why St. Louis Keeps Winning
St. Louis has long served as Boeing's primary manufacturing hub for tactical fighter aircraft, and the new mega-contract cements that role for at least another decade. The city's importance to the program was underscored in February when Boeing said it was expanding its St. Louis facilities to double F-15EX production capacity in response to surging domestic and international demand, according to KSDK.
That expansion came only months after a 15-week strike by International Association of Machinists District 837 union members halted the F-15EX assembly line in St. Louis from August 4 through November 17, 2025, temporarily delaying deliveries to the Air Force. Deliveries resumed in late November with the handoff of the eighth operational jet to the Air National Guard, per the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center. Hoodline previously covered the labor dispute as it dragged into a contract vote last fall in its report on the St. Louis strike vote.
The Case for a Fourth-Generation Fighter
The F-15 traces its design roots to the 1970s, and the continued investment in a non-stealth platform amid the F-35's stealth era might seem counterintuitive. But the research notes explain the F-15EX offers superior weapons payload capacity, lower flyaway and operating costs than fifth-generation stealth jets, and a modernized digital backbone that complements F-35 fleets in contested airspace. Operational analysis cited by Simple Flying estimates the F-15EX flyaway unit cost at between $90 million and $93 million, with total 30-year lifecycle program costs for a 104-aircraft fleet projected at $30 billion to $35 billion; the jet is designed to carry up to 29,500 pounds of ordnance.
Fiscal year 2026 defense budget documents included $3.1 billion for F-15EX procurement as part of an expanded plan to buy 149 aircraft through 2031, according to Army Recognition. That target has climbed steadily from an initial projection of 80 jets to 104 and now to 149, building on the original F-15EX program established in July 2020 under an IDIQ framework with a $22.89 billion ceiling.
A Growing List of Allied Customers
The Oregon Air National Guard's 142nd Wing, based in Portland, became the first operational military unit to field the F-15EX Eagle II when it received its first aircraft in June 2024 toward an 18-jet allotment, per the U.S. Air Force, replacing legacy F-15C models used for homeland air defense across the Pacific Northwest. Those jets have since made local appearances, including flyovers Hoodline detailed in its coverage of Portland's Fourth of July flyovers.
Beyond Portland and Israel, Boeing's global F-15 support work spans multiple allied fleets. In September 2023, the Air Force awarded Boeing a $474.5 million sole-source contract modification, under Foreign Military Sales rules, to integrate the Eagle Passive Active Warning Survivability System onto Japan's F-15 fleet, according to the Department of War. Boeing separately received a $615.8 million contract in January 2025 for full-rate production of that same EPAWSS electronic warfare system, with work split between St. Louis and Nashua, New Hampshire, the Department of War said. EPAWSS provides digital radar warning and electronic countermeasures meant to protect non-stealth aircraft like the F-15 in modern contested airspace.
The $131.2 billion ceiling announced this week is not a lump-sum payment but a framework: task orders will be issued incrementally over the coming decade as the Pentagon, Air National Guard and allied nations request specific aircraft, upgrades or sustainment work. For St. Louis, though, the practical effect is more concrete — a defense manufacturing hub already expanding to meet demand now has a contracting vehicle stretching toward 2037.
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