The future sales prospects for Boeing’s military aircraft are mixed at present. The F-15 and F-18 production lines now seem more likely to extend into the next decade with more sales to the Middle East, now that political objections in Tel Aviv and Washington appear to be subsiding. A sale of four KC-46 tankers to Japan has now been formally notified, but some U.S. Air Force (USAF) leadership has suggested that the service will buy no more than the 179 aircraft to which it is already committed. Meanwhile, Boeing faces stiff competition for the USAF JSTARS replacement, while arguing that the 737-800 airframe that it has proposed for that near-term requirement is also suitable as an AWACS and Rivet Joint SIGINT platform further in the next decade. All three missions are currently flown by Boeing 707 derivatives.

Kuwait is reportedly seeking 28 F-18s and Qatar 36 F-15s, with options for 36 more. The potential sales are yet to be formally approved and notified by the U.S. government. But the recent U..S 10-year, $38billion arms supply agreement with Israel might help clear the way. That agreement might even result in Boeing supplying more F-15I Strike Eagles to Israel, which received 25 of them in the mid-1990s. Boeing is still offering various avionics upgrades to the F-15, some of which are found on the 84 F-15SAs for Saudi Arabia that are now in production. But the company has dropped the full set of "Silent Eagle" stealth airframe modifications that it first proposed in 2009. As for the F/A-18, Boeing is still proposing the Advanced Super Hornet upgrades, some of which flew in mid-2013.

The first Foreign Military Sale (FMS) of the KC-46A—the four for Japan—is worth $1.9 billion including training and support. A defensive package is included, comprising the Northrop Grumman AN/AAQ-24 Large Aircraft Infrared Countermeasures System (LAIRCM); Raytheon ALR-69A Radar Warning Receivers (RWRs) and Raytheon GPS receivers with anti-spoofing capability.

At last week’s AFA Convention, the chief of Air Mobility Command said that the 179 KC-46As on order are “not enough; I’ve got 400 KC-135s.” But Gen. Carlton Eberhart went on to confirm recent reports that the service is considering the KC-Y and KC-Z requirements in a new context. They were previously seen as more tranches of KC-46 procurement, albeit with upgrades. But Eberhart said, “I’m looking at new technology, and talking to industry. What would that aircraft look like, 20 years on [from now]?” He earlier told reporters that a stealthy and perhaps autonomous airframe that could accompany strike aircraft into defended airspace might be considered.

The USAF has delayed issuing the formal request for proposals (RFP) for the JSTARS replacement, ostensibly because of a disagreement with Congress over whether development (as well as production) should be awarded on a fixed-price basis. Some pre-development contracts were let last year. But the service has also issued an “Air Superiority 2030” planning document that also suggests that large and conventional AWACS airframes might also not be survivable in the defended airspaces that are envisioned in the future. A Boeing official told reporters last month that not only is the 737 the "right-size" platform for the JSTARS replacement, but also for such aircraft/missions as the RC-135 Rivet Joint and EC-130H Compass Call.