Boeing receives contract to modernise South Korean F-15Ks

The Republic of Korea Air Force currently has 59 Boeing F-15K aircraft in service. This photo, taken in 2024, shows an F-15K with the 11th Fighter Wing at Kunsan Air Base in South Korea. (Samantha Rodriguez/USMC)

The Republic of Korea Air Force's (RoKAF's) Boeing F-15K Slam Eagle multirole fighter aircraft fleet is on track for upgrade after Boeing received an 11-year hybrid contract to modernise the fleet.

Under the USD2.8 billion contract announced by the US Department of Defense (DoD) on 30 January, Boeing will design and develop “an integrated suite of aircraft systems” for RoKAF F-15K on behalf of South Korea's Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA).

The announcement of the contract comes over three years after DAPA launched a programme in December 2022 to upgrade its Slam Eagles. According to DAPA, the “performance improvement project” includes an active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar system, a new electronic warfare (EW) system, and an updated mission computer.

A RoKAF spokesperson also told Janes during the 2025 Seoul Aerospace and Defense Exhibition (ADEX) in South Korea in October 2025 that the service will also convert the aircraftʼs existing identification friend-or-foe (IFF) system to an IFF Mode 5 system, update the onboard datalink system, and “slightly change” the cockpit display.

Under the hybrid cost-plus-fixed-fee and fixed-priced incentive undefinitised contract, Boeing will conduct the work at its St Louis (Missouri) facility, with the contract involving Foreign Military Sales (FMS) to South Korea. Janes understood in October 2025 that Seoul and Washington DC had already signed a deal on the programme, and that Boeing was working out its contract with the US government.

Janes