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New Fighter Acquisition Uncertainty Revving Up F-15 Prospects Recent orders for F-15 fighters from Saudi Arabia are securing the future for the Boeing F-15 production line at least until the year 2018. Beside the Saudi mega deal, South Korea has an ongoing tender for the third phase of the FX, while the US Air Force is looking into possible upgrades to keep its F-15C/Es at least through the decade. The USAF is expected to begin evaluating life extensions for the Eagle soon. Such programs could address avionics, radar and survivability enhancements. Boeing is offering an advanced cockpit configuration for future...

Cutaway & technical description: How Boeing developed the F-15 Silent Eagle By: Stephen Trimble Washington DC The first major evolution of the F-15 Eagle occurred in the late 1970s, when the US Air Force started looking for a replacement for the General Dynamics F-111 Aardvark. McDonnell Douglas and Hughes teamed up to convert an F-15B two-seater - designed under the "not-a-pound-for-air-to-ground" philosophy - into the world's most effective strike aircraft. They bulked up the F-15B's internal structure by about 2,720kg (6,000lb), allowing designers to boost maximum take-off weight by 20% to more than 36,400kg, and the back-seat was converted into...

HONOLULU – The Obama administration and Saudi Arabia have reached an agreement approving the sale of combat aircraft worth nearly $30 billion to the Saudi air force, the White House announced Thursday. The deal clears the way for the sale of 84 new F-15SA fighter jets and the modernization of another 70 already in the Saudi fleet, plus the production of munitions, spare parts, training, maintenance and logistics. Saudi Arabia is a key U.S. ally in the Arab world, especially because of its ardent opposition to Iran, which intensified earlier this year as Iranian operatives were alleged to have attempted...

AP sources: US to sell F-15s to Saudi Arabia LOLITA C. BALDOR and MATTHEW LEE Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Obama administration is poised to announce the sale of nearly $30 billion worth of F-15 fighter jets to Saudi Arabia, U.S. officials said Wednesday. The deal will send 84 new fighter jets and upgrades for 70 more, for a total of $29.4 billion, according to the officials, who requested anonymity because the sale has not been made public. The agreement boosts the military strength of Saudi Arabia, a key U.S. ally in the Middle East, at a time when...

IAF may buy jets used by US in Iraq By YAAKOV KATZ 26/12/2011 Advantage in purchasing military equipment, senior IDF officer explains, is in the price, which would likely be dramatically lower than buying same equipment new. Due to the ongoing upheaval in the Middle East and potential delays to existing procurement plans, the IDF is looking at the possibility of purchasing fighter jets and other platforms used by the United States military in Iraq. The advantage in purchasing military equipment used by the US in Iraq, a senior IDF officer explained, was in the price, which would likely be...

Boeing Touts 'Evolution' of Its Upgraded Fighters Dubai Air Show » November 13, 2011 by Chris Pocock Boeing Military Aircraft (BMA) has stepped up its campaign to sell more F-15 and F-18 fighters, and has issued a strong warning against overreliance on leading-edge platforms such as the F-35 Stealth Fighter (produced by competitor Lockheed Martin). “The evolutionary approach is best…it’s hard to manage a revolution,” said Rick McCrary, BMA international business director. McCrary advises customers to focus instead on tactics, techniques and procedures, and the effects that they wanted to create. The F-35 program was “going down the same path”...

Robins official says massive Saudi F-15 sale remains on track despite delays by Gene Rector The Warner Robins Patriot 10.25.11 - 12:48 pm A senior Robins Air Force Base official believes the massive $29.4 billion upgrade to the Royal Saudi Air Force’s F-15 fleet remains on track although the Saudi government has not yet signed the agreement. The pending sale calls for delivery of 84 new F-15SA or “Saudi advanced” jets and the upgrade of 70 RSAF F-15S aircraft. The package also includes updates at five Saudi bases, new weaponry, training and sustainment through 2020. Final agreement from the Saudi...

Saudi Boeing F-15 Deal Delayed September 28, 2011 11:43 PM ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - There are rumblings that the Boeing F-15 deal with Saudi Arabia is delayed. There’s speculation the Saudis are upset with President Obama’s support of Arab Spring demonstrations or his opposition to Palestine becoming a state through U.N. approval. “We hear the same rumblings, but to narrow it down or be able to pinpoint it, we’re up in the air about that right now. We don’t know. They are keeping it pretty close chested of what the reasons might be” said Aerospace Machinists spokesman Gordon King. King...

F-15 fatigue tests vital to aircraft's future By WAYNE CRENSHAW - wcrenshaw@macon.com From a small building in Byron to a lab in Israel and a Boeing facility in St. Louis, a massive effort is under way that will play an important role in the future of the F-15 Eagle. The two most extensive full-scale fatigue tests ever done on the venerated aircraft, along with complete teardowns of two others, will help determine what maintainers at Robins Air Force Base need to do to keep the aging fighter jet flying safely for years to come. Robins does depot maintenance, program management...

We join the Libyan people in gratefulness as we hear of Col. Gaddafi’s defeat. The fall of a tyrant and sponsor of terrorism is a great day for freedom-loving people around the world. But the path to democracy in Libya is not complete, and we must make wise choices to ensure that our national interests are protected.

One Raptor, one Eagle on a training sortie high above the Gulf of Mexico, USA. Via http://ChamorroBible.org/gpw/gpw-20060914.htm ( medium, large, huge) The Photographer Staff Sgt. James L. Harper Jr., United States Air Force  

Japan grounds F-15 fighter fleet after crash By AP News Jul 06, 2011 TOKYO (AP) — Japan has grounded its entire F-15 fighter fleet following the crash of one of the jets into the East China Sea, officials said Wednesday. Japan’s Defense Ministry ordered the fleet to remain on the ground pending an investigation into the cause of the crash Tuesday, when an F-15 based on the island of Okinawa went down during a routine training mission. The pilot of the jet remains missing and about a half dozen naval ships have been mobilized in a search for him, the...

PAS11: Boeing’s iron Eagle By Philip Ewing Tuesday, June 21st, 2011 4:00 pm PARIS — Boeing could continue manufacturing variants of its F-15 Eagle — a fighter first flown in 1972 — all the way until the 2020s, the president of its military aircraft division confirmed Tuesday. If Boeing can lock in deals with the air forces of Saudi Arabia and South Korea, it could make new investments “for the long term,” Chris Chadwick told reporters, to make its Eagles or Silent Eagles as cheap and easy to produce as they’ve ever been. At stake are a total of about...

Death Pods Swarm Towards North Korea by James Dunnigan May 1, 2011 South Korea has received more of the several dozen AN/AAQ-33 Sniper Targeting pods it had ordered for its F-15K fighter-bombers. The growing threat of war with North Korea has led to the speeding up of orders for many critical items of military equipment. South Korea wants as many of its F-15Ks as possible equipped with the Sniper pod, and the pilots trained in its use. The U.S. Air Force buys Sniper XTP targeting pods for about $2 million each, and currently has over 500 of these pods, which...

India has told the United States that it will not be buying American for its $10-billion fighter aircraft deal. This more or less leaves the Eurofighter Typhoon and the French Rafale as the only remaining contenders for the deal. The two US contenders, Boeing and Lockheed, received formal letters fr om the Indian Ministry of Defence as to why their respective aircraft, the F/A-18 Superhornet and the F-16 Superviper, did not fulfil the technical requirements of Medium Multirole Combat Aircraft contract, said US and Indian sources. Defence Minister AK Antony has been signaling privately for weeks that the Indian Air...

With F-35 delay, IAF looking at purchase of used F-15s By YAAKOV KATZ 13/04/2011 Delivery of Joint Strike Fighter only expected in 2018, air force considers buying used squadron from US, upgrading older jets. Fearing major delays to the Joint Strike Fighter, the IAF is exploring whether to purchase a used squadron of F-15 fighter jets from the US Air Force, as it faces a possible drop in its number of combat aircraft. Israel decided to purchase a squadron of 20 F-35 stealth fifth-generation JSFs, which are made by Lockheed Martin, last year in a massive $2.75 billion deal, to...

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Channel 4 News International Editor, Lindsey Hilsum, says that the villagers were shot when a US helicopter picked up the pilot who had ejected from the F-15E Eagle plane after it experienced a mechanical failure. The US aircraft crashed on Monday night and was found in a field outside Benghazi and landed in rebel-held territory. The local Libyans who were injured in the rescue mission are currently in hospital. They are the first confirmed casualities of allied operations, almost four days after operations began. At the time of writing, no one had died as a result of the gunfire. Lindsey...

Two US airmen have been rescued after ejecting from their F-15E Eagle warplane just before it crashed during allied operations in eastern Libya. The plane appeared to suffer mechanical failure near the rebel stronghold of Benghazi, the US military said. It came down after a third night of US-led coalition attacks on Col Muammar Gaddafi's forces, aimed at enforcing a UN resolution to protect civilians. Debate is continuing in the coalition over who should take command.

U.S. warplane crashes in Libya, pilot safe: report 19 mins ago LONDON (Reuters) – A U.S. warplane has crashed in a Libyan field after an apparent mechanical failure and its pilot has been rescued by rebels, Britain's Daily Telegraph newspaper reported on its website on Tuesday. The plane is an F-15E Eagle...........

USAF Pulls Funding For F-15 IRST Upgrade Mar 15, 2011 The U.S. Air Force has terminated funding for an infrared search and track (IRST) upgrade for its F-15C/D fleet as part of the service’s push last year to produce savings for the Pentagon’s fiscal 2012 budget. Air Force officials say that the effort was designed to provide “the only USAF search and targeting capability in the infrared spectrum designed specifically for air-to-air, providing air-to-air attack capability in a radar-denied environment on the F-15C/D.” The system could be useful for air-to-air fighter engagements as well as cruise missile targeting and ballistic...

F-15 set to be ‘practical if not preferred’ answer to nation’s threats by GENE RECTOR, Staff Writer The Warner Robins Patriot In a concession some months ago to what’s practical rather than what many preferred, Defense Department officials decided to update the Air Force’s fleet of F-15 Eagle fighters rather than buying additional, new production F-22s. It is a move that shines a bright light on Robins Air Force Base where hundreds of workers daily engage in worldwide sustainment of the nation’s F-15 fleet. Budget constraints – then and especially now – drove the decision. The F-15 upgrade – featuring...

The same argument has been used to benefit defense by bringing the RAF imagery analysts from [39 Sqdn., operators of the Reaper, and 5 AC (Army Cooperation) Sqdn., which flies the Sentinel R1 Airborne Stand-Off Radar system] into TIW,” Stewart says. “So we have that umbrella organization that can provide far better output and support to operations and the development of capabilities.” The RAF’s operations go beyond fighters and are part of a service-wide focus on combat intelligence, surveillance, targeting and reconnaissance (Combat IStar). Since his appointment in July 2009, Air Chief Marshall Sir Stephen Dalton has made refocusing the...

Israel is upgrading its thirty 1970s vintage F-15 fighters so that they can use JDAM and other smart bombs, and continue flying for another decade. Israel has 107 F-15s, and all but the 30 oldest ones can already use smart bombs. This additional upgrade effort is partly in response to the growing number of delays in delivering the new F-35. Moreover, the 31 ton F-15A/B/C/D/Is that Israel uses have larger carrying capacity (up to 11 tons, compared to four tons) and range than the 350 F-16s. While the F-16s are Israel's principal combat aircraft, the larger F-15s can still defeat...

Officials took a step forward in the F-15E Strike Eagle's continuous technological evolution as the Air Force's most versatile combat aircraft here Jan. 18. Officials from the 46th Test Wing launched the fourth generation fighter for the first time with a new and improved radar system, the APG-82(V)1. The APG-82 uses active electronically scanned array radar technology composed of numerous small solid-state transmit and receive modules. The standard radar, APG-70, is a mechanically scanned array housed in the nose of the aircraft. Although the current F-15E radar has undergone numerous updates and upgrades, it is still the same system the...

) Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa on Thursday notified Okinawa Gov. Hirokazu Nakaima that Guam will host some of the drills involving Okinawa-based F-15 fighters, as part of efforts to ease the base-hosting burden on the prefecture. Kitazawa told Nakaima the move would "definitely reduce" noise caused by such exercises and urged locals to realize that the state was striving to help Okinawa's development while reducing its burden of hosting U.S. bases. Nakaima took a cautious stance toward the move, saying, "Let me (first) take a look at the details (of the agreement) to see if the noise could be considerably...

new F-16 life extension, bomber and space-procurement plan will be included in the U.S. Air Force’s forthcoming Fiscal 2012 budget proposal. These efforts are possible during a time of belt-tightening because the service found $34 billion worth of projects to cut in order to fund higher-priority initiatives, says Air Force Secretary Michael Donley. Absent from Donley’s comments last week was mention of the budding effort to buy a new fast-jet trainer (Alenia, BAE and Lockheed Martin/Korea Aerospace Industries are poised to compete for this) as well as a replacement for aging Bell Helicopter UH-1Ns supporting nuclear convoys and executive lift....

The Israeli air force is to enhance an upgrade programme to its Boeing F-15 "Baz" strike aircraft to include its oldest A/B-model aircraft. One prototype has already been completed and will serve to accelerate the series upgrade. "We are confident that after the upgrade is complete, all the Baz fleet will be capable of performing long-range strikes in the next 10 years," an air force source says. Israel's F-15C/Ds have been upgraded within recent years, but the service had not planned to invest in modernising its earlier A/Bs. However, a more comprehensive upgrade is now aimed at enabling the older...

Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Thursday suggested Japan should consider buying US fighter jets, during talks in Tokyo, as the country plans for new warplanes, a US official said. In a meeting with Defence Minister Toshimi Kitazawa, Gates "suggested Japan consider three US planes to upgrade their fleet," the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, the F/A-18 Hornet and the F-15 Eagle, the senior defence official told AFP. Gates offered that the Pentagon could provide Japan with an analysis of the merits of each aircraft, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Japan is taking stock of its defence hardware...

The Pakistan Air Force (PAF) and Royal Saudi Air Force (RSAF) are conducting a joint air power employment exercise, code named ‘Al Saqoor-II’, in Saudi Arabia. The exercise commenced on January 6 and will be completed by January 19. A PAF contingent comprising F-16 and Mirage aircraft and that of the RSAF consisting of F-15 aircraft are participating in the exercise in which air operations are being executed in near realistic environment. The exercise will benefit both teams and hone their professional skills and further enhance existing brotherly relations between the two countries and their air forces. It will also...

The Via http://ChamorroBible.org/gpw/gpw-20050822.htm (photo 16)   The Photographer Tech. Sgt. Ben Bloker, United States Air Force  

U.S. to host Saudi warplane training at Idaho base WASHINGTON — The U.S. Air Force plans to host Saudi air combat training. The Air Force has selected a preferred site for the training of the Royal Saudi Air Force over the next decade. The training, expected to take place in Mountain Home, Idaho, would focus on the new Saudi fleet of F-15 fighter-jets. "Saudi Arabia is a valuable long-term U.S. partner in the Gulf," Heidi Grant, a deputy Air Force undersecretary, said. "Facilitating the modernization of Royal Saudi Air Force aircraft, as well as providing enhanced air crew and maintenance...

Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN) has received a contract from Boeing for the production of advanced APG-63(V)3 Active Electronically Scanned Array radars. The U.S. Air Force and the U.S. Air National Guard will receive radars from the contract and deliveries will begin in the second quarter of 2011. The radars are intended to enhance the performance of deployed F-15C aircraft and will replace the current mechanically scanned radar systems. With its superior targeting and tracking capabilities, the APG-63(V)3 will enable aircrews to detect and identify targets well beyond the range of the existing systems. "Our APG-63(V)3 AESA radars offer significant reliability...

Mountain Home AFB may get Saudi training squadron Friday, December 3, 2010 Mountain Home News Mountain Home Air Force Base is believed to be on a list of bases being considered to support an F-15 training squadron from the Royal Saudi Air Force, the Mountain Home News has learned. Saudi Arabia is in the midst of purchasing $60 billion worth of arms from the United States, including 84 F-15S fighter-bombers and upgrades to 70 other F-15s already in its inventory. As part of the package, the Saudi government is looking at acquiring basing rights for a "desert environment" training squadron...

The air forces of Singapore and Indonesia began a 10-day joint exercise dubbed Elang Indopura 16/10 in West Nusatengara (NTB), an Indonesian Air Force spokesman said. "During the joint exercise, elements from the two air forces will do command post and field maneuvers," the Indonesian Air Force Headquarters` chief information officer, Air Commodore Bambang Samedro, said here Wednesday. The maneuvers would include one-to-one and even one-to-two air battles (dog fights) over Rembiga Airbase in West Nusa Tenggara, he said. The Indonesian Air Force as well as its Singaporean counterpart were represented in the joint exercise by F-16 Fighting Falcons with...

Israeli Air Force sends number of squadrons from Nevatim, Tel Nof bases including F15, F16; Italians use Euro-fighter Typhoon.Refused permission to fly in Turkish airspace, the Israeli Air Force continued to create alliances with additional air forces in the region, wrapping up a two-week exercise with the Italian Air Force on Friday on the island of Sardinia. A number of squadrons of F-15 and F-16 fighter jets from the IAF’s Nevatim and Tel Nof bases participated in the maneuvers, which focused on low-altitude flights, dogfights and longrange interception. Air force sources said the teams were allowed to fly over a...

The South Korean government has set a 1.4 trillion won, or 1.2-billion US dollar budget for next year in purchasing additional K-9 self-propelled howitzers and F-15K fighter jets. Seoul's defense and finance ministries said Friday that the amount of 2011's national defense budget has increased by 5.8 percent compared to this year with the hopes of bolstering the nation's military capabilities in the wake of this week's artillery exchange with North Korea. Included in this budget is the money to buy 100 K-9 howitzers which cost about 3.5 million dollars each. These K-9's, known for providing quick and effective fire...

The Obama administration has quietly forged ahead with its proposal to sell $60 billion worth of fighter jets and attack helicopters to Saudi Arabia unhampered by Congress, despite questions raised in legislative inquiries and in an internal congressional report about the wisdom of the deal. The massive arms deal would be the single largest sale of weapons to a foreign nation in the history of the U.S., outfitting Saudi Arabia with a fully modernized, potent new air force. "Our six-decade-long security relationship with Saudi Arabia is a primary security pillar in the region," Defense Sec. Robert M. Gates and Secretary...

House members seek conditions to prevent arms being used against Israel; 198 representatives voice complaints about Saudi policies. WASHINGTON – A bipartisan group of House lawmakers is demanding more assurances from the Obama administration that a record $60 billion arms sale to Saudi Arabia won’t give the kingdom new military capabilities that threaten Israel. In a letter to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, 198 representatives voiced a range of complaints about Saudi policies, and said they “would like to know how these sales will affect Israel’s qualitative military edge.” House members aren’t likely...

Barring unlikely 11th-hour objections, a 60-billion-dollar US arms sale to Saudi Arabia was set Friday to go into effect despite initial worries from US lawmakers over its impact on Israeli security. The Pentagon unveiled plans for the sale on October 20, and the US Congress had 30 days to move to block or change the terms of the transaction, which partly aims to help Saudi Arabia counter Iran's regional influence. "Thirty days are up at the end of today, after which the administration may proceed. There is no sign that Congress will block the sale," said a Senate Foreign Relations...

Twelve F-15s and about 180 Kadena Airmen are wrapping up two weeks of bilateral training with Japan Air Self Defense Force members at Chitose Air Base in northern Japan. The aviation training relocation program is designed to increase operational readiness and interoperability between U.S. and Japanese forces while reducing the impact of training on local communities surrounding Kadena. The current ATR mission has been the largest and longest since the initiative began in 2007. The JASDF's 2nd Wing at Chitose Air Base in Hokkaido, flies many aircraft including F-15s. Working side-by-side Kadena Airmen, mostly from the 44th Fighter Squadron, have...

In the past two years, the U.S. Air Force retired 252 elderly A-10s, F-15s and F-16s to the "bone yard" (a desert storage areas where many American warplanes are stored when retired, just in case they are needed later.) Sometimes the air force is just saving money, by mothballing and decommissioning a number of active duty airplanes to free up money for upgrades and maintenance on the rest of the fleet. Thus not all the aircraft in the bone yard are old and worn out. In fact, nearly all aircraft sent to the bone yard can fly again, otherwise they...

Boeing and U.S. Air Force officials at Kadena Air Base celebrated the arrival of four F-15Cs upgraded with the APG-63(V)3 Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar on Oct. 21. The newly arrived F-15Cs will join the APG-63(V)1 and (V)2 aircraft already in the 44th and 67th Fighter Squadrons to provide unmatched combat power for the defense of Japan. The upgrades were installed and tested at Langley Air Force Base, Va. Boeing is under contract to fully upgrade 27 Air Force and 18 Air National Guard F-15C/D aircraft with the APG-63(V)3 AESA over the next 10 months. A total of 54...

One of the three F-15K aircraft delivered by U.S. aerospace company Boeing to the South Korean Air Force (ROKAF) in September had severe defects allegedly due to the poor quality of work at a St. Louis manufacturing facility, industry sources said Thursday. On Sept. 9, Boeing delivered three of the second batch of 21 F-15Ks ordered under a 2008 contract, following the delivery of 40 F-15Ks under a previous deal in 2002. But one of the newly arrived aircraft had an engine damaged by foreign objects, and fuel transfer and avionics glitches, the sources said, citing testimony of Korean technicians...

Boeing [NYSE: BA] and U.S. Air Force officials at Kadena Air Base celebrated the arrival of four F-15Cs upgraded with the APG-63(V)3 Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar on Oct. 21. The newly arrived F-15Cs will join the APG-63(V)1 and (V)2 aircraft already in the 44th and 67th Fighter Squadrons to provide unmatched combat power for the defense of Japan. The upgrades were installed and tested at Langley Air Force Base, Va. Boeing is under contract to fully upgrade 27 Air Force and 18 Air National Guard F-15C/D aircraft with the APG-63(V)3 AESA over the next 10 months. A total...

As expected, Saudi Arabia finally made it official that it is buying 84 U.S. F-15Es. These are special versions of the two-seater F-15E. But what was really interesting was the list of accessories ordered along with the aircraft. These included; 100 M61 Vulcan multi-barrel 20mm cannons, 193 LANTIRN 3rd Generation Navigation Pods, 338 Joint Helmet Mounted Cueing Systems (JHMCS), 462 AN/AVS-9 Night Vision Goggles (NVGS), 300 AIM-9X Sidewinder air-to-air Missiles, 500 AIM-120C/7 AMRAAM radar guided air-to-air missiles, 5,400 smart bombs (GPS and laser guided, 227-909 kg), 400 AGM-84 Block II Harpoon anti-ship missiles, 600 AGM-88B HARM anti-radar missiles, 158 AN/AAQ-33...

An-F-15C fighter aircraft credited with two aerial victories over Iraq during Operation Desert Storm will be towed down GA Highway 247 to the Museum of Aviation on Friday, October 29 at approximately 9:00 a.m. The towing will affect 247 traffic for about an hour. On February 6, 1991, Captain Thomas Dietz shot down two Russian-built MiG 21s over Iraq using AIM-9 missiles. The aircraft was assigned to the 36th Tactical Fighter Wing, Bitburg AB, Germany at the time flying missions from a base in Saudi Arabia. F-15s are credited with downing 37 aircraft during aerial engagements over Iraq during the...

TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE - Tyndall Air Force Base’s last three F-15 Eagles lifted off and headed west Tuesday, as hundreds of base personnel and Bay County residents lined the edges of the base’s flight line to watch the end of an era. More than five months after the base’s first fighter jet departed, the result of an Air Force restructuring plan that called for the drawdown of Tyndall’s 48 F-15s, the last three jets took off for Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. “The most difficult thing is we all love the airplane,” Chief Master Sgt. William Canfield Jr., superintendent...

Barack Obama is to go ahead with plans to sell Saudi Arabia advanced aircraft and other weapons worth up to $60bn (£39bn), the biggest arms deal in US history, in a strategy of shoring up Gulf Arab allies to face any military threat from Iran. According to the Wall Street Journal, the administration is also in talks with the Saudis about possible naval and missile-defence upgrades that could be worth tens of billions of dollars more over five to 10 years. Plans to go ahead with the package, which has been under secret negotiation since 2007, have been known for...

[Exclusive] US approves sale of stealthy F-15 to South Korea By Jung Sung-ki U.S. aerospace company Boeing is looking to compete for a major fighter acquisition project in South Korea after receiving Pentagon approval to export the stealth version of its F-15 aircraft, Silent Eagle, according to Boeing and South Korean procurement officials. The F-15SE export approval for South Korea is the first of its kind, as Boeing is offering the aircraft to other current users such as Israel, Singapore and Saudi Arabia. Boeing is vying with U.S. Lockheed Martin and the European consortium EADS for Seoul’s third-phase F-X program...