The U.S. Air Force has authorized the F-15 Eagle Passive Active Warning Survivability System, or EPAWSS, for full-rate production under a $615.8 million contract.
Contract recipient Boeing will develop 45 sets of EPAWSS production kits for the F-15E Strike Eagle fleet, Defense News reported Friday. The system is manufactured by BAE Systems and is designed to allow F-15 fighters to locate threats in highly contested environments.
In March 2021, Boeing awarded BAE Systems a contract for EPAWSS’ low-rate initial production.
Kevin Fournier, BAE Systems’ EPAWSS program director, said, “BAE Systems is currently on schedule in support of Boeing’s F-15 EPAWSS LRIP production activities and is looking forward to supporting Boeing in the [full rate production] phase of the program.”
The EPAWSS kits will be constructed in St. Louis, Missouri and Nashua, New Hampshire. Boeing also plans to continue installing EPAWSS on operational F-15’s in San Antonio, Texas.
EPAWSS Services
EPAWSS aims to provide services to help an F-15 fight adversarial air defense systems. These services include geolocation, situational awareness, radar warning and self-defense capabilities.
The electronic warfare system is currently being flown on F-15 jets at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida, Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada and Portland Air National Guard Base in Oregon.
