F-15 Radars: Decades of Aircraft in Service, Decades More Production Planned

Raytheon’s AN/APG-63(V) is the fire control radar for the F-15A/B/C/D Eagle fighter. The US Air Force’s newer F-15E “Strike Eagles,” with some recently planned to stay in service through at least 2030, now mount Raytheon’s AN/APG-82(V)1, which replaced the APG-63(V)1 back-end with a modified Raytheon AN/APG-79 radar back-end from the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, and also added an Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) antenna. The APG-82(V)1 began flying on the F-15E in July 2014, replacing the Raytheon AN/APG-70.

Beginning in April 2019, new Qatari F-15QAs also received the APG-82(V)1, which Israel has also chosen as an upgrade for its F-15Is. The APG-82 was also to be part of Japan’s “F-15MJ Japanese Super Interceptor (JSI)” with the first delivery planned by July 2023. In August 2024, the US government approved the sale of at least 50 more F-15IA [EX] Eagle IIs to Israel, along with 25 mid-life upgrades, with deliveries to begin in 2031. And in February 2026, Boeing was finally awarded a multi-billion-dollar contract for the upgrade of Korea’s F-15K Slam Eagle fleet, to include new APG-82(V)1 radars.

In June 2024, the first operational F-15EX fighter jet was officially delivered to the Oregon Air National Guard’s 142nd Wing. In November 2025, The US Air Force 10-year tactical aircraft procurement plan envisioned adding additional manufacturing capacity for the F-15EX, to take production for the USAF up to 36 per year rather than the legacy goal of 24.

In April 2026, following several years of back-and-forth plans for F-15EX production numbers (and immediately following several legacy F-15s shot down in the war on Iran), the USAF’s FY27 budget increased planned production to buy a total of 267 F-15EX Eagle II fighters, more than double previous projections.

And in August 2026, the US Air Force awarded Boeing a sole-source indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity (ID/IQ) contract for “F-15 Eagle Crest” to fund F-15 production, upgrades and sustainment, and other programs for US and international F-15 customers. This massive new contract vehicle is to be worth up to $131.2 billion, covering essentially all F-15 funding through August 2037, including all future F-15 agreements for both the US Air Force and Foreign Military Sales (FMS).

Finally, in September 2025 Raytheon unveiled its AN/APG-82(V)X, the latest iteration of its APG-82 radar, which incorporates Gallium Nitride (GaN) antenna technology to provide increased range and advanced air-to-air, air-to-ground, and electronic warfare capabilities. The APG-82(V)X will enable faster target detection, tracking, and engagement with multi-function fire control and electronic warfare capabilities. Development of the radars began in El Segundo, CA and production of the radars will leverage mature production lines in Forest, MS. Raytheon sources say APG-82(V)X development is building on radar technology developed for sixth-generation applications and Raytheon’s classified work on next-gen radars.

Raytheon also states that while the current-in-production APG-82(V)1 cannot be fully upgraded to APG-82(V)X standard, “parts and pieces” of the (V)X can be added to the (V)1. For example, the older radar could be retrofitted with the new processor from the APG-82(V)X, with the GaN AESA array possibly being retrofitted in the future.

In sum, Raytheon’s F-15 radars will be the biggest or second biggest fighter radar program in the world over the next decade.

F-35 Radars: Say What?

The MIRFS (Multi-Function Integrated RF System) is the integrated avionics system developed for the original F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF). The most important and expensive sensor in MIRFS is the AN/APG-81 MFA (Multi-Function Nose Array) radar, which includes an active electronically-scanned array (AESA) that functions as the antenna for the JSF radar as well as for communications and electronic support measures (ESM) systems.

In June 2001, Northrop Grumman completed the four-year, $42 million MIRFS/MFA advanced radar demonstration effort and in January 2009 the first JSF with a complete mission system was completed by Lockheed Martin, including the APG-81 radar.

But by late 2015, radar testing – and problems – continued, with a major flaw in the version 3i software to be used in the Air Force’s first initial operational capability (IOC) F-35A fighters. The problem basically forced the pilot to turn off and reboot the radar entirely. In August 2016, the USAF finally declared F-35A IOC.

By mid-2019, APG-81 radar development and production continued, with continuing problems and ever-increasing funding for fixes, as the F-35 JSF full-rate production (FRP) decision approached. In November 2019, despite the absence of full-rate production, Northrop Grumman announced it had delivered its 500th APG-81 fire control radar for the F-35 Lightning II.

By January 2023, Northrop Grumman was also developing the all-new AN/APG-85 AESA radar for future F-35s, planned to supersede the APG-81 AESA fire control radar, at least for US aircraft. According to Northrop, “the APG-85 will be compatible with all variants of the F-35 aircraft” – although we know in 2026 that the APG-85 and APG-81 are not interchangeable, having different sizes, shapes, and requirements.

By March 2023 according to a report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO), just 55% of the Pentagon’s F-35 fleet was mission capable due to a lack of depot capacity, insufficient supply of spare parts, and “overreliance on contractors.” US MC rates were targeted at 90% for the F-35A and 85% for B and C variants, clearly and widely missed.

Nonetheless, in March 2023 the US FY24 defense budget request significantly increased F-35 acquisition over what the previous year’s budget had planned.

In March 2024, 23 years after the start of the JSF development program, the DoD finally approved full-rate production of the F-35. By this time, Lockheed Martin had produced more than 990 F-35s.

But the F-35 program continued to unravel (except for many new European buys following the beginning of the Russia-Ukraine war), and in June 2025 the FY26 US administration budget request initially included only 47 F-35s, significantly below the 74 projected earlier.

Also in mid-2025, following the TR-3/Block 4 debacle (see Teal’s Military Electronics Briefing for full details), Lockheed Martin warned the US Air Force of “risks” in the new APG-85 radar’s delivery schedule – with the new radar perhaps not being available until Lot 20 F-35s, near the end of the decade. The problem is partially because the new APG-85 is being developed and will be produced by Northrop Grumman as government furnished equipment (GFE) – not as part of Lockheed’s own F-35 production contracts with the Pentagon, and schedules were not coordinated because the goal was for each prime to develop systems as fast as possible – on schedules which wound up being very different. Despite delays developing new electronics equipment for nearly every new program since the Cold War, there seems to have been little or no consideration of how to coordinate new system developments.

In late 2025, the US Government Accountability Office’s latest review of the F-35 program focused on the process of getting jets out the door on time and on budget rather than their operational performance.

One result of this policy has been that in March 2026 Rep. Rob Wittman, chairman of the House Armed Services tactical air and land forces subcommittee, told media sources that new Block 4 F-35s will be delivered to the US military without any radar, beginning in the fall of 2026 (with the first actually delivered to the US Marines Corps in June 2026). And that the newest F-35s will be in service for years without radars. This means the newest Block 4 F-35s, with more than 80 expensive, new cutting-edge electronics systems, will not be combat coded or used for combat missions for years.

Instead, the new F-35s will be delivered with ballast in the radar’s place and will not be usable in combat or for realistic combat training. More than 100 aircraft are likely to be delivered without radars. The aircraft cannot be delivered with the legacy APG-81 radar because it is a different size and shape than Northrop Grumman’s new APG-85. Lockheed Martin suggested they might build a Franken-nose-section to fit the old radar in the new aircraft, but that now looks unlikely. For full details on the disastrous future for F-35s mounting the APG-85, see Teal Group’s Military Electronics Briefing.

Perhaps even more sad, the US Marine Corps, which waited decades for the jump-jet F-35B while continuing to fly old F/A-18A/B/C/D Hornets, received the first radar-less Joint Strike Fighters, in June 2026 (from Lot 17). Ironically, Great Britain’s first jump-jet fighter, the Hawker Siddeley Harrier (with later versions bought by the USMC) was first produced sixty years earlier in 1967 without a radar (but of course, it was designed that way, not an accident…).

Later in 2026, the US Air Force and Navy are receiving their new F-35A and F-35C variants (from Lot 18) without radars. At least all three services can train together. I mean, fly together, sort of. Without radars or combat coding or much to do in the air (without the radars which have always been at the heart of the F-35 [MIRFS/MFA] combat system).

Regarding international customers, the APG-85 has not yet been cleared for export, so foreign customers have planned to and will continue receiving legacy APG-81 radars in their F-35s. Presumably real radars, not ballast.

And the Winner Is…

Teal Group forecasts that all the various F-15 Eagle APG-63/APG-82(V)1/APG-82(V)X development, upgrades, and new production combined will be worth about $11.2 billion in our forecast period, ramping up to well over $1 billion each year from the end of this decade on.

But as impressive as F-15 radar programs will be over the next decade(s), it is perhaps a foregone conclusion that F-35 radar funding will win this battle, despite (or because of) the constant and continuing problems (which continue to be very expensive). By a longshot.

Teal Group forecasts APG-81 & APG-85 funding of around $3.5 billion every year from today until at least the end of the decade. Even though this massive annual amount will then drop off as Teal Group forecasts air forces cut back F-35 orders (and total procurement numbers) sooner than planned today, in our ten-year forecast period the vital APG-81/85 MIRFS/MFA system for the F-35 will be worth $29.5 billion overall – one of the largest, if not the largest, military electronics programs in the world.