GUY NORRIS / ST LOUIS
Boeing says its F-15T offer for the Singapore interim fighter need will "almost certainly" include the active electronically scanned array version of Raytheon's APG-63 radar. The latest variant of the APG-63 will be configured with new transmit/receive modules and countermeasures suite, and be air-to-ground capable. The radar could be delivered in late 2007, the original Singaporean service-entry target, although this depends on development funding for a planned upgrade to the version being retrofitted to the US Air Force's F-15Cs.
Final assembly of the first of 40 F-15Ks for South Korea begins in May 2004, with first flight in March 2005 and delivery of the first two fighters due the following November. Final deliveries of the aircraft ordered under the original $3.6 billion contract are due in August 2008, although South Korea is expected to begin its budget request for "additional high-end fighters" in 2004, says Winkler. Its original requirement was for 120 aircraft.
New weapons on the F-15 include the AGM-84 Harpoon and SLAM-ER missiles and the 500lb (255kg) JDAM GPS-guided bomb. The South Korean aircraft will also be the first production F-15 powered by the General Electric F110-129 engine, and will be equipped with the AIM-9X missile and the Lockheed Martin Tiger Eyes targeting, navigation and infrared search and track pod.
Source: Flight International
