U.S. Air Force buys 40 electronic warfare kits for F-15EX

The U.S. Air Force has awarded BAE Systems a $146.7 million contract for 40 sets of the electronic warfare suite that protects the F-15EX Eagle II, covering jets in the fighter’s seventh and eighth production lots.

The sole-source contract, announced by the Department of War, buys 40 production hardware sets of the Eagle Passive/Active Warning Survivability System, known as EPAWSS, along with magazines and retainers for the jet’s countermeasure dispensers. BAE Systems will do the work in Nashua, New Hampshire, and expects to finish by Aug. 31, 2030. The U.S. Air Force obligated $58.8 million in fiscal 2025 and 2026 procurement funds at the time of award, and the full value works out to roughly $3.7 million per set.

EPAWSS is the F-15’s built-in self-protection system. It warns the crew when enemy radars are tracking the jet, works out where those radars are, jams them, and controls the release of chaff and flares to decoy incoming missiles. Every F-15EX is built with EPAWSS installed at Boeing’s St. Louis factory, and the U.S. Air Force is also retrofitting the system into part of its older F-15E Strike Eagle fleet, where it replaces an analog electronic warfare suite in use since the 1980s.

The award follows a U.S. Air Force move to add a capability EPAWSS does not cover. On Sept. 29, the F-15 program office asked industry for an already-qualified missile warning system that could be fitted into six sensor locations built into the F-15EX for that purpose, The Defence Blog reported. EPAWSS focuses on radar threats, while a dedicated missile warning system looks for the heat or light of an incoming missile’s motor, including heat-seeking missiles that give off no radar signal.

The F-15EX is a two-seat, heavily modernized version of the F-15 that the U.S. Air Force is buying mainly to replace its aging F-15C and F-15D fighters. The order for Lot 7 and Lot 8 hardware means EPAWSS supply is being lined up for jets that will be built over the next several years, and the service’s fiscal 2027 budget request asked for 24 more F-15EX aircraft.

EPAWSS cleared full-rate production in early 2025, and the U.S. Air Force has since opened a dedicated installation line at Warner Robins Air Logistics Complex in Georgia to speed upgrades of F-15Es outside their regular depot maintenance.