Here's one take on F-15 lifetime:
The F-15 initial operational requirement was for a service life of 4,000 hours. Testing completed in 1973 demonstrated that the F-15 could sustain 16,000 hours of flight. Subsequently operational use was more severely stressful than the original design specification. With an average usage of 270 aircraft flight hours per year, by the early 1990s the F-15C fleet was approaching its service-design-life limit of 4,000 flight hours. Following successful airframe structural testing, the F-15C was extended to an 8,000-hour service life limit. An 8,000-hour service limit provides current levels of F-15Cs through 2010. The F-22 program was initially justified on the basis of an 8,000 flight hour life projection for the F-15. This was consistent with the projected lifespan of the most severely stressed F-15Cs, which have averaged 85% of flight hours in stressful air-to-air missions, versus the 48% in the original design specification.Full-scale fatigue testing between 1988 and 1994 ended with a demonstration of over 7,600 flight hours for the most severely used aircraft, and in excess of 12,000 hours on the remainder of the fleet. A 10,000-hour service limit would provide F-15Cs to 2020, while a 12,000-hour service life extends the F-15Cs to the year 2030. The APG-63 radar, F100-PW-100 engines, and structure upgrades are mandatory. The USAF cannot expect to fly the F-15C to 2014, or beyond, without replacing these subsystems. The total cost of the three retrofits would be under $3 billion. The upgrades would dramatically reduce the 18 percent breakrate prevalent in the mid-1990s, and extend the F-15C service life well beyond 2014.
The F-15E was built with a 15,000 hour airframe life in mind from the start. It is also heavier and less maneuverable as a result.
We don't need to repair the F-15As, but the C models will be around for a long time yet. Service Life Extension Programs are not unusual.
Other aircraft have undergone life extension airframe modifications. The B-52s that are still flying are not flying on their original upper wing skins. A-10As have been rebuilt at AMARC. F/A-18As and Bs have hand their center barrel sections replaced.
We need F-22s, and we also need F-15s. It is not an either/or situation, but rather a question of what is the right mix today, tomorrow, and in ten years.
For that matter, the same goes for the F-16. We will be retiring old F-16s as F-35s come online, but we will not get rid of all the F-16s by any means.
How long did the F-100, F-4, and A-7 soldier on with ANGs after they were replaced by more modern aircraft? The last The F-100 retired in 1979. The A-7 was retired in 1991. The last F-4 was retired in 1996, and still flies today with the Japan Self Defense Force. The B-52 (as a type) may see 100 years! It celebrated 50 years in 2002.
If it takes $250,000 to make an F-15C airframe last another 2,000 hours, it's money well spent compared to the couple of million we're spending (and have spent) equipping them with JHMCS, AESA radar, Link 16 data links, and GPS/Ring Laser INS that makes them very capable aircraft in the future.
Absolute front line first day? No. But very useful as second line fighters in domestic intercept and lower level conflicts.
I agree they can be fixed thank you for your service!
If the aircraft that broke up causing the fleet grounding was built in 1980 and if it did average 250 flight hours per year, then it was at about 7000 flight hours, not 25,000 flight hours.