The F-15QA (Qatar Advanced) is an F-15E variant developed for the Qatar Air Force. It was announced in November 2016 that the US State Department had approved the sale of up to 72 F-15QA aircraft to Qatar in a $21.1 billion deal that includes weapons, support, equipment, and training. On 14 June 2017, it was announced that Qatar had signed a deal to purchase 36 F-15QAs for a cost of US$12 billion. On 13 April 2020, the first F-15QA (QA1) took its maiden flight. The second one (QA2) flew for the first time May 31, 2020 On this contract Boeing will build the planes in St. Louis, and should be finished by December 2022.
The F-15QA is based the F-15SA that Boeing is building for the Royal Saudi Air Force. The F-15QA has a fly-by-wire flight control system, a digital electronic warfare (EW) suite, the Lockheed Martin AAS-42 Tiger Eyes infrared search and track system, a redesigned internal wing structure, and two additional wing hardpoints that allow it to carry up to 16 AIM-120 AMRAAM air-to-air missiles. It also has the Raytheon APG-63(v)3 active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar. Another feature is a new BAE Systems head-up display and a single wide-area cockpit display that replaces the multiple screens of previous variants. The F-15QA has a terrain-following radar that enables the pilot to fly at a very low altitude following cues displayed on a heads up display. The targeting pod contains a laser designator and a tracking system with a 10-mile range. The engines are General Electric F110-GE-129 turbofans.
Manufacturer’s serials for the 36 on order are QA01/QA36. USAF Serials are either 17-0001/0036 or 17-1001/1036,
Sources:
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McDonnell Douglas F-15E Strike Eagle, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McDonnell_Douglas_F-15E_Strike_Eagle
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Military and Aerospace Electronics, https://www.militaryaerospace.com/rf-analog/article/16726554/boeing-to-build-36-new-f15qa-combat-aircraft-with-digital-fly-by-wire-for-qatar-in-62-billion-deal
- E-mail from Michel Vandervoort on F-15QA serials.
