The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, awarded Boeing a $27.5 million modification contract to provide support repairs and spare radars for the F-15 Radar Modernization Program, the Pentagon announced Monday. The program is providing upgraded active electronically scanned array (AESA) radars, like the ones used on the F-22 and F-35 fighters, for a limited number of F-15s. The work on the modification contract is scheduled to be completed by May 31, 2019, and will be performed in St. Louis, Mo. Also on Monday, Northrop Grumman was awarded an $85.8 million contract to build a high frequency, receiver transmitter for the B-2 Spirit. This work is scheduled to be completed by Jan. 31, 2020, and is being conducted at Edwards AFB, Calif., Cedar Rapids, Iowa, McLean, Va., and Oklahoma City, Okla.
U.S. Air Force F-35s and F-22s regularly deploy deep into the Pacific region from Alaska, Utah, and Hawaii. In the future, though, the head of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command would like to see the Air Force permanently station fifth-generation aircraft west of the international date line—closer to China.