Air-Minded: Eagle Updates

I try to keep in mind that I write these Air-Minded posts for everyone, not just aviation geeks. Here, then, is a primer to help readers understand the different versions and missions of the F-15.

So the Air Force had Eagles but they’re retired now? But now it’s getting Eagle IIs and aren’t those basically the same?  And what does that have to do with Strike Eagles, whatever those are?

There are, in fact, three different F-15s. Left to right, below: the F-15C Eagle, the F-15E Strike Eagle, and the F-15EX Eagle II.

When F-15 pilots say Eagle, we mean the original single-seat air-to-air fighter, the F-15C, built in the 1970s and 80s. Though a number remain in service with the Air National Guard, Japan, Israel, and Saudi Arabia, as of January 2025 the active USAF no longer flies it.

The F-15E Strike Eagle is a different airplane with a different mission. Although it looks generally the same as the Eagle, it has two seats and is employed in an air-to-ground role (it can also be used in the air-to-air role). It’s heavier and it’s crewed … you need a pilot in front and a weapon systems officer in back to operate it. The USAF has around 200 Strike Eagles, manufactured from 1985 to 1997; these are still in service. Strike Eagles are a critical resource for the USAF, with every airframe in demand — to date only a single F-15E has been retired and sent to a museum, and that only happened last month. Beyond the Strike Eagles used by the USAF, an additional 200+ have been built (and are still being built) for allied air forces, including Korea, Singapore, Qatar, Israel, and Saudi Arabia. Some of these are more advanced than the ones used by the USAF.

The F-15EX Eagle II is based on one of those advanced F-15E Strike Eagles, the version currently in production for the Qatari Air Force. Like the Strike Eagle, it’s a two-seater, but at least in the air-to-air role can be operated by a pilot only, with the rear seat empty. It entered production in 2021 but so far less than 30 have been delivered to the USAF. It was never totally clear to me how we intended to use the 100-plus Eagle IIs originally planned for. A small number was to be sent to Kadena Air Base in Japan to take up the mission Eagles used to fly there. A few more were to go to guard units in the States. I always suspected others would go to units currently flying the Strike Eagle, where they’d be used as fighter/bombers and flown by pilot/WSO crews … some of the earliest Strike Eagles are nearing retirement age. But that was speculation on my part, to be taken for what it was worth.

In November 2025, USAF plans for the Eagle and Eagle II became clearer. From an Eagle update I posted then:

As it stands now, ANG [Air National Guard — PW] units in three states still fly the original single-seat Eagle, my old jet: Oregon, Louisiana, and California. According to recent press releases the Oregon ANG, based at Portland, and the Louisiana ANG, based at New Orleans, will transition to F-15EX Eagle IIs, the two-seat replacement for the single-seat F-15 Eagle. Portland will be the schoolhouse for new F-15EX pilots, both active duty and guard. The last of the OG [original gangster — PW] Eagles will continue to fly until 2031: 21 C models upgraded with the latest and greatest radars, sensors, and avionics, assigned to the California ANG at Fresno. These jets were supposed to retire in 2026; delays in building and fielding new EX models are responsible for the slip. The Pentagon says 21 upgraded legacy Eagles will do for air defense of the continental U.S. an additional five years, and as an old Eagle driver I not only agree but am delighted my jet is still on the job.

There have been some changes since then. Here’s the latest, as of April 2026:

If I understand correctly (and feel free to contradict me in the comments if you have better information), the Oregon ANG at Portland will give up its F-15EX Eagle II aircraft and transition to the F-35 Lightning II. That, apparently, is set to begin happening later this year. At the same time, the active USAF will take over F-15EX training at Seymour-Johnson AFB in North Carolina.

Referencing the ANG squadrons in Louisiana and California still flying the old single-seat Eagle, no changes from what I’d heard before: Louisiana will transition to the F-35; California will continue flying a small number of legacy Eagles until 2031 (at which point it will transition to the F-15EX, unless plans change — which they very well might).

As for the active USAF, Kadena AB in Japan is still scheduled to get 36 F-15EX jets, and will be the only dedicated air-to-air unit in the USAF to operate the Eagle II. So where will the rest of the planned EX buy be based, and how will those aircraft be used?

Currently there’s a Congressional push (with strong USAF backing) to increase the F-15EX buy to 267 aircraft, and I expect it to go through. The intent of buying additional F-15EX aircraft is to replace the existing F-15E Strike Eagle fleet, which currently numbers around 200 aircraft, all fielded in the 1980s and 90s, heavily used in conflicts from the Gulf War to the present stupid war with Iran and beginning to reach retirement age. Since Seymour-Johnson AFB already trains Strike Eagle aircrews (pilots and rear-seat weapon systems officers), it seems logical to move the training operation from Oregon to North Carolina, and from the ANG to the active USAF.

One question I have is whether SJ will run two training pipelines, one for air-to-air pilots who will operate the 2-seat F-15EX as a single-seat fighter, and one for air-to-ground pilots who’ll train alongside back-seat WSOs for the EX models replacing the 2-seat Strike Eagles. I suspect that at some point the USAF will simply decide to train all F-15EX pilots in the Strike Eagle mission, which includes both air-to-air and air-to-ground, and that the squadron at Kadena, if not the California ANG, will add air-to-ground to its mission and be manned with both pilots and WSOs.

But that’s just me, trying to anticipate what Congress, the Department of Defense, and the USAF will do … even though I know these days that’s a sucker’s game.

— back to the Air-Minded Index