(IDF)

Hot on the heels of announcing it had conducted the world’s first combat operations with the F-35, Israel looks set to bolster its Boeing F-15I fleet with an order for 25 additional jets.

The additional jets would be acquired under a new US$4bn (A$5.3bn) package for which the Israeli government was reportedly considering either additional F-35s or F-15s. The F-15s will be built to Boeing’s Advanced F-15 standard which includes a wide screen cockpit display, AESA radar, structural enhancements and two extra wing weapons stations.

Flightglobal says the F-15 was chosen over the low observable F-35 because of the former’s greater load carrying capability which comes into play after air superiority has been gained, and that the IDF’s current fleet of 25 F-15Is which were delivered in the late 1990s and early 2000s will be upgraded to a configuration common to the new jets.