On Friday, January 30, 2026, the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center (AFLCMC) of the U.S. Air Force Materiel Command at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio, acting on behalf of the U.S. Department of Defense, signed a contract worth 2,805,961,005 USD with Boeing under a program to modernize the Republic of Korea Air Force (Daehanminguk Gong-gun, ROKAF) F-15K Slam Eagle multirole fighter fleet.
Photo: Daehanminguk Gong-gun
This contract covers the design and development of an integrated onboard systems suite for the modernization of the F-15K. The work will be carried out at Boeing’s St. Louis facilities in Missouri and is scheduled for completion by December 31, 2037. The contract will be executed under the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program for the Republic of Korea and was negotiated with Boeing as the sole contractor. At the time of award, initial funding in the amount of 540,000,000 USD was obligated.
On November 19, 2024, the U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) published the U.S. Department of State’s approval of a potential sale of a modernization package for the aircraft in question, valued at up to 6.2 billion USD.
The government in Seoul requested the option to acquire equipment and services to modernize 59 F-15K Slam Eagle aircraft, including: 96 new ADCP II mission computers, 70 AN/APG-82(v)1 radars with AESA antennas, 70 sets of the EPAWSS digital electronic warfare system, and 70 AN/AAR-57 CMWS missile warning systems.
Earlier, on December 28, 2023, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported that the DAPPC (Defense Acquisition Program Promotion Committee), operating under the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA), had approved plans to modernize the F-15K fleet and to acquire additional air-to-air refueling/transport aircraft (likely two). It was reported that the F-15K modernization program would cost up to 3.46 trillion KRW (2.73 billion USD) and would be implemented between 2024 and 2034.
The program aims to enhance combat capability and battlefield survivability. Planned modifications include replacing the AN/APG-63(V)1 onboard radar with a new AESA radar, integrating a new electronic warfare and self-defense system, new avionics, and a modified cockpit with the ADCP II mission computer, as well as issuing pilots with new helmet-mounted displays. As a result, many solutions will be derived from the latest U.S. F-15EX Eagle II.
By 2012, the Republic of Korea Air Force had received 61 F-15K Slam Eagle aircraft, two of which were lost in accidents in 2006 and 2018. Thanks to the decade-long modernization effort, they will continue to form a key element of the air force’s strike capability in the future, alongside the F-35A Lightning II (40 delivered, with a further 20 ordered instead of the originally planned 25), the KF-16C/D Block 52 fleet (118 aircraft in total) being upgraded to a standard close to the F-16V (equivalent to new-build F-16C/D Block 70/72), and the planned introduction of up to 120 KF-21 Boramae fighters (low-rate initial production of the first 40 has begun, with first deliveries scheduled for this year). In mid-2024, all 19 F-4E Phantom II aircraft were retired, and by 2030 the KF-5E/F Tiger II fleet (currently 61 aircraft) will also be withdrawn. The force is complemented by 60 FA-50 Fighting Eagle Block 10 light combat aircraft.
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