The first of 36 Boeing F-15QA Advanced Eagle combat aircraft for Qatar has made its maiden flight out of Boeing’s St Louis production facility in Missouri.
A screenshot of a Qatari MoD video showing the conclusion of the maiden flight of the first F-15QA for Qatar. (Qatari MoD via Twitter)
The milestone was announced by the Qatari Ministry of Defence (MoD) on 14 April.
The F-15QA is the Qatari-specific variant of the Advanced Eagle which, along with the F-15SA for Saudi Arabia and F-15EX for the US Air Force, improves on earlier models of the Eagle in that it features a number of hardware and software enhancements over earlier variant aircraft.
Specifically, these comprise two additional underwing weapons stations (increasing the number from 9 to 11); the option of a large-area display cockpit (Saudi Arabia has not taken up this option); fly-by-wire controls; the Raytheon AN/APG-82(V)1 or AN/APG-63(V)3 active electronically scanned array radar; General Electric GE F-110-129 engines; digital joint helmet-mounted cueing systems in both cockpits; and a digital electronic warfare system; as well as other improvements.
Boeing expects to begin delivering the Qatar Emiri Air Force (QEAF) F-15QAs in the very near future, and for deliveries to run through to early 2023. Qatar has options for a further 36 aircraft, which would stretch production by a further three years out to 2026 if exercised.
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