News just in ... could QHL get something from this ? Thu, April...

News just in ... could QHL get something from this ?
Thu, April 8, 2021, 12:06 AM
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Air Force’s newest F-15EX variant will be called the Eagle II, the service announced Wednesday.Lt. Gen. Duke Richardson, the service’s top uniformed acquisition official, announced the official designation during a rollout and naming ceremony at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla.In total, the service plans to buy at least 144 F-15EXs to replace the F-15C/D fleet, which has an average age of 37 years and is starting to endure structural strain.
Because many of the EX model’s new systems were already in production for F-15 customers like Qatar or Saudi Arabia, the Air Force was able to skip a long development period. Ultimately, the program moved from contract award to the delivery of the first aircraft in about nine months, according to Richardson.“I would say this day was a long time coming, but it has actually come to fruition very fast from an acquisition perspective,” he said.
The F-15EX made its first flight on Feb. 2 at Lambert International Airport in St. Louis, Missouri. A month later, on March 10, Boeing delivered the first aircraft to the Air Force, which is currently putting the plane through operational tests at Eglin.
The Air Force placed its first order for the F-15EX in July 2020, awarding a contract for the first lot of eight jets with a value not to exceed about $1.2 billion. All of those aircraft are set to be delivered to Eglin AFB by fiscal 2023.