Aug. 24—BERKELEY — The Indonesian government has reached a tentative agreement to buy F-15EX fighter jets from Boeing, a potential boost for a key production line in St. Louis County.
The groups signed a memorandum of understanding Monday for the purchase of as many as 24 aircraft. The timing for delivery isn't yet known, and the deal is subject to approval by the U.S. government.
"There is no other fighter like the F-15 in the world, and this platform will put Indonesia at the top of air dominance capabilities," Mark Sears, Boeing Fighters vice president and program manager, said in a statement.
Boeing makes F-15s at a rate of 1.5 planes per month, and plans to increase to two per month in December 2024.
By that logic, the deal announced this week could represent about a year's worth of work for the production line, said Loren Thompson, a defense analyst at the Lexington Institute.
"It is definitely a big deal," Thompson said.
It is also more work for Boeing's engineering and manufacturing labor force, which the company needs to maintain for future programs, Thompson said. The skills needed to build the F-15s, he added, are hard to come by.
"F-15EX is a bridge to the future," Thompson said.
The EX is the most advanced version of the F-15 yet. It made its first flight in February 2021, and the Air Force received the first plane the following month.
Indonesia's Minister of Defense, Prabowo Subianto, visited Boeing's production facility in Berkeley on Monday for the signing of the memorandum of understanding.
Boeing has about 15,800 employees in the St. Louis area, its second-largest workforce after Washington state. The St. Louis operations are mostly focused on defense products like the F-18 and F-15 fighter jets, the T-7A trainer plane and the MQ-25 refueling drone. It makes munitions in St. Charles.
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