What You Need to Know: The U.S. State Department recently approved an $18 billion sale of F-15EX fighters, labeled F-15IAs, and upgrade kits for Israel’s existing F-15 fleet. This addition aligns with Israel’s unique defense needs, bolstering air-to-air and homeland defense capabilities.
-While the F-15EX lacks stealth features, its significant payload capacity makes it valuable for offensive roles, complementing Israel’s F-35s. In addition to defense, the F-15IA offers Israel a flexible strike platform for regional deterrence and operations, critical given Israel’s geographic vulnerabilities.
-Israel’s investment in F-15EX jets reflects a strategic need to balance defense and long-range offensive capabilities in the region.
In August, the State Department approved the sale of eighteen billion dollars worth of F-15EX equivalents, and F-15 upgrades, to Israel. The transaction will send fifty new F-15EXs, known as the F-15IA, to the Israeli Air Force, plus another twenty-five upgrade kits for existing Israeli Air Force (IAF) F-15Is.
The State Department explained the reasoning behind the sale. “Incorporating F-15IAs into the Israel Air Force’s fleet of fighter aircraft will enhance Israel’s interoperability with U.S. systems and bolster Israel’s aerial capabilities to meet current and future enemy threats, strengthen its homeland defense, and serve as a deterrent to regional threats,” the State Department said in a statement.
The state’s explanation is pretty vague, of course. So, why did Israel want the F-15EX?
Israel has long been dependent on American military aid, which America has long been willing to supply. Of late, America’s military aid has been especially controversial, given Israel’s ongoing conflict with Hamas in Gaza. Still, the controversy was not sufficient to deter an eleven-figure sale of F-15s to the IAF.
Presumably, the Israelis will use the F-15EX in predictable ways. In America, the F-15EX is being shipped to Air National Guard (ANG) units, rather than the U.S. Air Force. The ANGs sole function is homeland air defense, which suggests the F-15EX is an adept air-to-air platform. That would make sense, given that the original F-15 was developed “without a pound for ground” and was strictly used as an air superiority fighter.
The homeland defense role further makes sense in that the F-15EX lacks stealth characteristics, a problem for invasive forces working to penetrate contested air space, but not a problem for defending the homeland. And of course, Israel has a high need to defend the homeland. With a territory roughly the size of New Jersey, and with sworn enemies on all sides, Israel occupies a uniquely precarious geographical position. Few nations have the geographic disadvantages of Israel, nor the acute need for homeland defense.
However, the F-15EX is not simply a homeland defense platform. Nor is Israel singularly interested in defending their homeland. The F-15EX can carry a weapons payload of 29,500 pounds. The Israelis could and likely would use the F-15EX in an offensive capacity. Indeed, the payload capacity may be why the Israelis were keen to purchase the F-15EX instead of more fifth-generation F-35s in their latest U.S. transaction; the F-35 relies upon internal weapons storage to maintain an ultra-low radar cross section (RCS).
Storing weapons internally, however, reduces the payload capacity, reducing the efficacy of the F-35 as an offensive weapon. That’s not to say the Israelis are not interested in more F-35s, they are and they just wanted the F-15EX first.
“Israel has been eyeing a variant of the F-15EX since 2018, though a formal request to the U.S. did not come until 2023,” Air and Space Forces Magazine reported. “The Israeli Air Force also wants to buy more F-35Is, its variant of the F-35.”
Harrison Kass is a defense and national security writer with over 1,000 total pieces on issues involving global affairs. An attorney, pilot, guitarist, and minor pro hockey player, Harrison joined the US Air Force as a Pilot Trainee but was medically discharged. Harrison holds a BA from Lake Forest College, a JD from the University of Oregon, and an MA from New York University. Harrison listens to Dokken.
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