The South Korean Air Force's primary multirole fighter, the F-15K "Slam Eagle," will be reborn as a 4.5-generation "Super Eagle" through a performance upgrade program worth about 4 trillion won. Deployed in 2005, the F-15K is a core asset for long-range strikes, and the military plans to operate it alongside the F-35A stealth fighter as a central pillar of Korean Peninsula airspace defense through the mid-2050s, following upgrades to its cutting-edge avionics.
The Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) reviewed and approved the "F-15K Performance Upgrade Program" at the 165th Defense Acquisition Program Committee meeting held on Dec. 16, 2024. The program comprehensively upgrades core avionics equipment to enhance the mission capability and survivability of the F-15K operated by the Air Force.
The program runs from 2024 to 2037. Total project cost has been set at about 4.56 trillion won. Once the upgrades are complete, the F-15K is expected to operate on the front line of Korean airspace defense until as late as 2057.
A total of 59 F-15K aircraft are currently in operation, with the upgrade cost per aircraft at about 77 billion won. This represents an increase of more than 1 trillion won in just two years, compared with the total project cost of 3.46 trillion won set at the time of the basic strategy plan for the upgrade program approved at the 148th committee meeting in December 2022.
DAPA said, "Target identification capability, strike capability, and survivability will be greatly improved so that the F-15K's distinctive long-range mission capability and weapons payload capacity can be exercised more effectively."
The F-15K upgrade program will proceed in stages over 13 years, adjusting the annual number of aircraft brought in for work while comprehensively considering the Air Force's aircraft operational rate and readiness posture.
Through this upgrade program, the existing mechanical radar will be replaced with an active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar. As a result, information processing speed will improve about 1,000 times over the existing system. The mission computer memory capacity will also be expanded, and the electronic warfare equipment, currently semi-automatic, will be converted to an automated system.
In connection with this, the U.S. defense outlet Defense Blog reported Jan. 31 that "the U.S. government has signed a contract worth $2.81 billion (about 4.23 trillion won) with Boeing for the performance upgrade of the South Korean Air Force's F-15K."
According to the report, the program will proceed through the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) method, in which the U.S. government acts as an intermediary and manages the contract, payment, and delivery. It will be carried out sequentially mainly through Boeing's St. Louis plant until Dec. 31, 2037.
The core of the upgrade is "modernization of integrated avionics equipment and mission systems." Experts predicted that the existing mechanical radar (APG-63(V)1) will be replaced with the latest AESA radar, while the mission computer, electronic warfare (EW) equipment, and communication systems will be upgraded to the latest specifications.
Through this, the plan is to elevate the F-15K to performance comparable to the latest F-15EX "Eagle II" that the U.S. Air Force has recently been introducing. Rather than a simple service-life extension, the aircraft will undergo a "complete transformation," effectively being reborn as a new version of the fighter.
In fact, this contract includes design and development stages, so the aircraft are expected to be modified sequentially through system integration, testing, and verification rather than immediate parts replacement.
Defense Blog analyzed that this modernization program aims to maintain air superiority competitiveness by continuing to operate F-15K fighters equipped with more advanced sensors and systems beyond 2030, in terms of the South Korean Air Force's "High-Low" force operation strategy.
For example, if the F-35A stealth fighter is the "needle" that covertly infiltrates enemy territory and suppresses air defense networks, then the F-15K serves as the "hammer" that devastates the enemy's core facilities based on its powerful weapons payload and long range.
The F-15K is considered a core asset of the South Korean Air Force alongside the F-35A stealth fighter. Among non-stealth fighters, it is evaluated as the most competitive fighter in Northeast Asia thanks to its outstanding speed, range, and weapons payload.
A military official said, "This performance upgrade program is a measure to solidify the F-15K's status, alongside the F-35A, as the South Korean Air Force's most powerful strategic asset until the KF-21 Boramae is fully deployed and sixth-generation fighters emerge."
