US Approves Sale to Israel of F-15EX and F-15I Upgrade | Aviation

The U.S. Secretary of State has approved the sale to Israel of 50 F-15EX, which will be named F-15IA, and the upgrade to a similar configuration of the 25 F-15I Ra’am currently in service.

The U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) has just announced that the Secretary of State approved the possible Foreign Military Sale (FMS) to Israel of the F-15EX Eagle II. The aircraft, which has been named as F-15IA (Israel Advanced) will be sold together with the Mid-Life Update kits for the F-15I Ra’am already in service, which will take the existing fleet to the same configuration of the newer variant.

The deal, worth $ 18.82 billion, is part of five Israeli FMS cases approved today. These also include AIM-120 AMRAAM missiles, 120 mm tank cartridges, 120 mm mortar cartridges and medium tactical vehicles. The approval of these FMS deals comes as tensions continue to rise in the Middle East while waiting for the retaliation attack that Iran has promised against Israel.

The DSCA notice mentions that Israel requested the sale of up to 50 F-15IA, together with 25 MLU modification kits. In addition to that, the FMS involves also 120 F110-GE-129 turbofan engines, 90 Advanced Display Core Processors II, 75 APG-82(V)1 Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA)…