Boeing Gets $131 Billion Air Force Contract to Keep F-15s in Production Through 2037

The U.S. Air Force awarded Boeing a contract worth up to $131.2 billion for F-15 fighter jet production, upgrades and sustainment, according to a Defense Department announcement reported by Breaking Defense. The deal, dubbed "F-15 Eagle Crest," was awarded sole-source to Boeing on Monday, August 24, 2026.

Work under the contract runs through August 2037, according to American Machinist, which cited the Pentagon's announcement. The initial ordering period extends through August 2031, with an option to extend through August 2036, according to Defence Industry and mrobusinesstoday. The work will be based in St. Louis, Missouri, according to the Springfield Business Journal.

It is one of the largest single contracts the Pentagon has issued recently. The structure matters, though. This is an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract, meaning $131.2 billion is a ceiling, not a check Boeing is guaranteed to cash.

"The ceiling represents capacity for future needs, not a commitment to spend the full amount," an Air Force spokesperson told Breaking Defense. Every individual order placed under the umbrella contract still requires its own decision.

Casey Nicastro, a senior analyst at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, told Breaking Defense the F-15 deal is "one of the bigger contracts recently awarded" by the Pentagon. A $151 billion Golden Dome missile-defense IDIQ contract was issued last year, though that deal covered more than 1,000 separate awards. A closer comparison is the $62 billion F-16 IDIQ contract the Air Force gave Lockheed Martin in August 2020 for Foreign Military Sales aircraft, less than half the F-15 Eagle Crest ceiling.

Who Actually Buys the Jets

Eagle Crest covers nearly every current F-15 operator: the U.S. Air Force and Air National Guard, plus Foreign Military Sales customers in Japan, Israel, Saudi Arabia, South Korea and Singapore, according to Breaking Defense and American Machinist. The Department of War has also flagged Indonesia and Poland as prospective buyers, according to Defence Industry.

Indonesia has discussed acquiring up to 36 F-15EX jets under the F-15IDN designation, but Defence Industry reports that while several letters of intent exist, no government-to-government Letter of Offer and Acceptance has been finalized. Poland has been floated as a potential buyer of 36 aircraft for years, but Warsaw hasn't made an official commitment and the State Department hasn't approved a request, according to the same report.

The contract follows an Air Force plan unveiled earlier this year to more than double its F-15EX buy to 267 aircraft, up from a previously planned fleet of about 100, according to Defence Industry. Those additional jets are meant to replace aging F-15E Strike Eagles and preserve strike capacity while the Air Force develops newer platforms.

Nicastro said the size of the new contract suggests "the Air Force believes aircraft like the F-15EX will still play a significant role in the future of air combat, even as the service moves towards adopting newer systems, like CCAs [collaborative combat aircraft] and F-47s."

The China Order Is a Separate Story

Some coverage this week has blurred this contract with a different Boeing headline: China's agreement to purchase 200 Boeing jets, which President Trump announced during a Fox News appearance with Sean Hannity, according to Breitbart. That deal came out of meetings between Trump, Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg and Chinese President Xi Jinping, and involves commercial aircraft, not fighter jets.

Trump called it a "commitment" from Xi, though Breitbart noted the number fell short of the roughly 500 737 Max and widebody jets some analysts had expected at the high end of a broader trade deal, according to Bloomberg's reporting cited in the piece. CNBC noted Boeing hadn't landed a major order from China in nearly a decade, with Chinese airlines instead buying from Airbus. These are two entirely separate transactions: one military, one commercial, involving different Boeing divisions and different customers. Conflating them overstates how much of Boeing's fortune shifted in a single week.

The Bigger Picture for Boeing

The F-15 award lands as Boeing works to stabilize its defense and commercial businesses under Ortberg. Earlier this month, on August 10, Boeing sold its flying-taxi venture, Wisk Aero, along with SkyGrid and drone maker Insitu, to Archer Aviation in exchange for roughly a 20 percent stake in Archer plus warrants and options, according to the Epoch Times. That deal is expected to close by the end of 2026 and reflects Ortberg's stated strategy of narrowing Boeing's focus to commercial airplanes, defense and space.

The F-15 contract cuts the other way. It deepens Boeing's defense commitments rather than shedding them and locks St. Louis production work in place through 2037. Whether Indonesia and Poland actually sign onto Eagle Crest, and whether the Air Force exercises anywhere near the full $131.2 billion ceiling, remains to be seen. Those decisions will play out order by order over the next decade, not all at once.