거 F-15가 세계최고라고 믿는 중생들 한글로만 써주셔~ 어떤 가련한 중생이 F-15K는 미군이 가진 F-15E,C보다 존네라고 외국사이트에 써댓다가 망신만 당했셔어~ 글구 이거 왜 다운그레이드 이렇게 많나? 가격은 2배나 더 주고 사왔는디~ Actually, The entire F-15 weapons system is incredibly dated if not outright /primitive/ and lipsticking the pig  doesn' t do much. A2A, as long as the jet carries CFT, it performs like a cement truck on skates, no matter what engines are in it. The 129 engine is not all that much more capable than the 229 (now that they\ ve got them to stop eating themselves) yet the 132 which DOES provide a marked incremental improvement was denied. Additionally, it generally sucks to be the "one off"  user of a given engine/airframe combination as you get to not only discover each and every problem but pay for the tweaks by yourself. The V1 radar is basically a case of DMS on a maintainability level. The V2 has next to no A2G modes and adds something like 400lbs more weight on the wrong end of the airplane. The _V3_ which is what Roche and others have pushed for the Golden Eagle upgrade (tile vs. brick TRMs) is not being offered. The very /notion/ of "survivable airpower"  that close to threat nuclear TBMs is laughable. They would have been better off with an extended range ATACMS or even landlaunch GLCM of some kind (which can be hidden and dispersed as individual launchers rather than be associated with fixed aimpoints like a runway) instead of associating such a limited force with such a poor standoff weapon as the SLAM-ER. Not least because the Chinese own the DPRK and if you want to put both at risk, you need something with a lot more penetrability than the F-15K will ever give. The ALQ-135M is presumably the B with the FQ emitter horns above and below the nose. Whoopy. The base signature is still going to be so huge that medium level penetration without SOJAM support is iffy. HARM has been load-checked with the F-15E since sometime in the early 90's. Yet to mount it on the wingpylons steals valuable fuel and outright _denies_ further standoff (AGM-130 or 84H) large munition carriage. It may also sterilize the upper wing shoulders. The AIM-120 is equally a no-brainer. Given that the C5 (5" motor extension) is likely to be matched by R-77M and the SD-10/PL-12 in the next few years and the AIM-120C7/C8(D) are not going to be exported if we know what's good for U.S.. And again, the AMRAAM-C, if it's not on the wings (don't leave home without suppression weapons) sterilizes the CFTs for any other kind of air to mud ordnance (though you can go assymetric). LANTIRN, even the "2000" model with the upgraded thermal well and 40K laser, is just next to worthless compared to Sniper, LITENING or even ATFLIR. Being hard to maintain and having less resolution and less modes than the more modern pods. AIM-9X is 20km seeker on a 10km weapon. The Shadow IRST may help a /tiny/ bit for early cueing. As will any MIDS or IDM based datalink and passive picture capability. But you are still driving a 600 square foot wing with the radar signature of a small frigate around what is apt to be a very crowded microtheater of all-dogfight shooters. Everybody knows this. Which is everybody (with an option to do so) prefers ASRAAM or Python IV/V as honest "20:20"  weapons with postlaunch lockon modes if need be. Overall, the Korean's aren't buying enough of these jets to replace their F-4 force and the F-16C/D units are themselves too diverse for their block capabilities and too shortlegged overall to make an offensive interdiction force a function of effective hi-lo mixed formations and support as we do (with a lot of support missions and specifically _tanking_). I would have gone for a major MLU/ACE type upgrade to the F-16 and waited for the F-35 myself. Or, if you want true Air Superiority as your primary role justification and secondary cruise-slinging (Storm Shadow) as you alternate. And are furthermore afraid of the Russo-Sino connection on the Su-30, buy into the Eurofighter. It's RamAAM Meteor (100km at sustained M3.5 and 2way datalink plus the potential of A3M integrated multispectral seeker) will dominate the field for the next 20 odd years against even the J-12 if they can get it out of the wrapper in a reasonable timeframe (2010 or so). I feel sorry for Boeing. They are stuck propping up archaic "legacy"  inheritances from MACDAC in the wake of 9/11 bad-taste in the airline industry and lost the JSF on the basis of looks and (worthless) STOVL. Their only hope for a sea change is the UCAV and while the A-45 promises to do "more for less" than manned airpower ever could, they will be slogging their way uphill against the bigotry of manned aviation in yet another looooozers struggle. As such, reading stuff like this (in the wake of the Cope India report no less) comes off as a "dealer list of option extras"  trying to sell year before last's model.