F-15 progresses in Asia, but without Indonesia

SINGAPORE — Official updates on Indonesia’s adoption of Boeing’s F-15EX fighter jet have been scant, since Jakarta announced a memorandum of understanding for up to 24 aircraft back in August 2023. Boeing officials have now admitted the prospective sale is dead in the water.

“In terms of our partnership with Indonesia, it’s no longer an active campaign for us,” a Boeing executive said Tuesday, the opening day of the Singapore Airshow .

Bernd Peters, vice president of business development and strategy for Boeing’s defense division, added, “With that being said, we remain deeply committed to the government of Indonesia and the military needs. We have an installed base of Apaches as well as [ScanEagles]; we’re going to continue to support those products.”

Boeing’s declaration is unsurprising, given how Indonesia conducts its defense acquisitions. The memorandum of understanding simply indicated Jakarta’s interest in the F-15EX, and no contract ever eventuated.

Simultaneously, the Indonesian Air Force has acquired new Rafale fighters from France, the first three of which arrived last month.

In recent years, the Indonesian government has expressed interest in second-hand Austrian Eurofighters, the F-15EX, second-hand J-10s from China and JF-17s from Pakistan. It has also paid money in South Korea’s KF-21 Boramae development program and signed an agreement for Turkish Kaan fighters.

This smorgasbord indicates the rather haphazard way Indonesia conducts procurements.

However, Boeing may not feel too disappointed, as it is busy giving the U.S. Air Force its promised quota of F-15EXs . Bernd said his company “remains deeply committed to the U.S. Air Force”, and that its priority is to be able to deliver 24 F-15EX Eagle II fighters annually.

Furthermore, there are two F-15 modernization programs in Asia.

Boeing is helping Japan upgrade its F-15J fighters, including installation of AN/APG-82(V)1 active electronically scanned array radars, new mission computers and the BAE Systems AN/ALQ-250 Eagle Passive Active Warning Survivability System (EPAWSS).

“The F-15 upgrades are not just another upgrade program; it’s a total transformation of the jet, delivering contemporary capabilities to Japan at par with those in the current-production F-15,” Boeing told Defense News.

Even more recently, on Friday, the U.S. Department of Defense announced Boeing had received a $2.8 billion contract to upgrade South Korea’s 59 F-15K fighters. This work, conducted in St. Louis, Missouri, should be completed by the end of 2037.

Turbo Sjogren, vice president and general manager of government services for Boeing Global Services, would not disclose what is being upgraded on Korean aircraft because of sensitivity issues.

“But here’s what we can tell you. The aircraft have been out there for 20 years, so a lot of obsolescence issues, but there are opportunities to upgrade the cockpit,” Sjogren said.

A Defense Security Cooperation Agency notification dated Nov. 19, 2024, indicated the F-15K modernization would follow a similar pattern to Japan’s.

Singapore is the only other Asian F-15 operator, and it is expected to eventually upgrade its F-15SG fleet. Singaporean Air Force pilots told Defense News at the airshow here that the aircraft are currently used mostly for training, and that no interception missions such as the one carried out in October 2024 have recurred.

On Oct. 15, 2024, the Singapore Air Force scrambled two F-15SG jets to escort an Air India Express Flight following a bomb threat. The pilots added that the integration of the fighters with the country’s new F-35s, which they are hoping to receive sometime later this year, will be gradual.

When asked whether they anticipate such an integration to be challenging, one of the pilots said that “if the United States can and has done it, we also will be able to.” Several of them will soon be heading to the U.S. for F-35 training.

Elisabeth Gosselin-Malo in Singapore contributed to this report.

Editor’s note: This story was updated after publication with a Boeing representative’s quote, who misspoke in a reference to ScanEagle aerial drones, per the company.

Gordon Arthur is an Asia correspondent for Defense News. After a 20-year stint working in Hong Kong, he now resides in New Zealand. He has attended military exercises and defense exhibitions in about 20 countries around the Asia-Pacific region.

新加坡——自雅加达于2023年8月宣布与波音公司签署谅解备忘录，拟向印尼采购至多24架F-15EX战斗机以来，有关印尼采购该型战机的官方消息寥寥无几。波音公司官员现在承认，这笔潜在的交易已经胎死腹中。

“就我们与印度尼西亚的合作而言，这已不再是我们积极开展的活动，”波音公司一位高管周二在新加坡航展开幕当天表示。

波音公司防务部门业务发展与战略副总裁伯恩德·彼得斯补充道：“尽管如此，我们仍然坚定地致力于满足印尼政府和军方的需求。我们拥有大量的阿帕奇直升机和[扫描鹰]无人机；我们将继续为这些产品提供支持。”

考虑到印尼的国防采购流程，波音公司的声明并不令人意外。那份谅解备忘录仅仅表明了雅加达对F-15EX的兴趣，最终并未签订任何合同。

与此同时，印尼空军从法国购入了新的“阵风”战斗机，其中首批三架已于上个月抵达。

近年来，印尼政府对奥地利的二手台风战斗机、F-15EX战斗机、中国的二手歼-10战斗机以及巴基斯坦的JF-17战斗机表现出了浓厚的兴趣。此外，印尼政府还参与了韩国KF-21“波拉梅”战斗机的研发项目，并签署了土耳其“卡安”战斗机的采购协议。

这种大杂烩式的采购方式表明，印尼的采购方式相当随意。

不过，波音公司或许不会感到太失望，因为它正忙于向美国空军交付承诺的F-15EX战斗机配额。伯恩德表示，他的公司“仍然坚定地致力于服务美国空军”，其首要任务是每年交付24架F-15EX“鹰II”战斗机。

此外，亚洲还有两个 F-15 现代化项目。

波音公司正在帮助日本升级其 F-15J 战斗机，包括安装 AN/APG-82(V)1 有源电子扫描阵列雷达、新的任务计算机和 BAE Systems AN/ALQ-250 Eagle 被动主动预警生存系统 (EPAWSS)。

波音公司告诉《防务新闻》：“F-15 的升级不仅仅是另一个升级项目；它是对这架战机的彻底改造，为日本提供与当前生产的 F-15 相当的现代性能。”

就在不久前的周五，美国国防部宣布波音公司获得了一份价值28亿美元的合同，负责升级韩国的59架F-15K战斗机。这项工作将在密苏里州圣路易斯进行，预计将于2037年底完成。

波音全球服务公司政府服务副总裁兼总经理Turbo Sjogren表示，由于涉及敏感问题，他不会透露韩国飞机正在进行哪些升级。

“但我们可以告诉你们的是，这些飞机已经服役了20年，所以存在很多过时的问题，但驾驶舱还是有机会升级的，”肖格伦说。

美国国防安全合作局于 2024 年 11 月 19 日发布的一份通知显示，F-15K 的现代化改造将遵循与日本类似的模式。

新加坡是亚洲除新加坡外唯一拥有F-15战机的国家，预计最终将对其F-15SG机队进行升级。新加坡空军飞行员在航展上告诉《防务新闻》，这些战机目前主要用于训练，类似2024年10月执行的那种拦截任务尚未再次发生。

2024年10月15日，新加坡空军紧急出动两架F-15SG战斗机，为一架印度航空快运航班护航，此前该航班遭遇炸弹威胁。飞行员们补充说，这些战斗机与新加坡预计将于今年晚些时候接收的新型F-35战斗机的整合将是一个循序渐进的过程。

当被问及他们是否预计这种融合会面临挑战时，一位飞行员表示：“如果美国能做到而且已经做到了，我们也能做到。”他们中的几位很快将前往美国接受F-35战斗机的训练。

新加坡的伊丽莎白·戈斯林-马洛对本报道亦有贡献。

编者按：本文发表后进行了更新，加入了波音公司一位代表的引述，该公司表示，该代表在提及 ScanEagle 无人机时说错了话。

戈登·阿瑟是《防务新闻》的亚洲特派记者。在香港工作20年后，他现居新西兰。他曾到访亚太地区约20个国家，参加过军事演习和防务展览。