Virginia-based firm to equip South Korean F-15Ks with advanced survivability system

SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea is upgrading its F-15K Slam Eagle fighter fleet with the U.S. military’s most advanced electronic warfare system under a contract awarded to BAE Systems, the company announced this month.

The Falls Church, Va.-based firm will supply EPAWSS — the AN/ALQ-250 Eagle Passive Active Warning Survivability System — as part of Boeing’s roughly $30 billion modernization program for the South Korean air force’s 59 F-15Ks, according to a July 13 news release from BAE.

“We are working closely with Boeing, the [South Korean air force] and regional industry teams to deliver the most technically advanced [electronic warfare] system for the F-15K aircraft upgrade,” BAE F-15 international program director Phillip Casalegno said in the release.

EPAWSS is an all-digital electronic warfare suite that provides 360-degree threat detection and countermeasures, allowing pilots to operate more effectively in contested airspace filled with enemy radars and electronic signals, according to the release.

The system allows pilots to fly deeper into areas protected by modern air defenses while providing increased maneuverability and aircraft survivability, Maj. Hope Cronin, spokeswoman for the 48th Fighter Wing at RAF Lakenheath in England, told Stars and Stripes in 2025.

BAE did not announce when it will begin installing the system on South Korea’s aircraft.

EPAWSS entered operational U.S. Air Force service in January 2025 when the first F-15E Strike Eagles equipped with the system arrived at Lakenheath, Air Force Material Command announced in January 2025.

The Air Force designed EPAWSS to replace the F-15’s “functionally obsolete” original electronic warfare system, according to a Government Accountability Office report from May 2019. The service paid $3.54 billion for 413 units in 2016 while the system was still in development, the report said.

The system designers incorporated “mature hardware from existing U.S. and foreign military” electronic warfare systems to expedite the old system’s replacement, the GAO reported.

EPAWSS complements the F-15’s speed, range and payload while improving the aircraft’s combat effectiveness, air superiority and survivability against modern threats, according to BAE.

South Korea’s Defense Acquisition Program Administration approved the broader F-15K modernization program in December 2024, the administration announced that month.

The project will substantially improve the fleet’s mission capability and survivability while keeping the fighter effective against developing regional security threats, according to the agency’s release.

The agency said the modernization would replace the aircraft’s mechanical radars with active electronically scanned arrays, providing faster detection and tracking of multiple aerial targets.

EPAWSS converts the F-15K’s existing semiautomatic electronic warfare equipment into automatic systems, reducing the steps required for pilots to respond, according to the acquisition agency.