Are the F-15 Eagle's days numbered? Top generals say maybe

LTC (Join to see) I would love to understand the strategic reasons for each of these different platforms and how the USAF thinking has changed the missions with the introduction of drone platforms.
Drones are great for time over an area but not good at closing distance with an aggressive attack vector like the F-15, F-16, F-35. I would expect that F-35 would usurp the F-15 roll in CAS.

This is One where the Top Brass are going for the stealth Fighters... instead of upgrading what we have

The C models are an old platform (Production started in the late 70's and ended in the mid 80's) they are more expensive to operate than the newer F-16's. Along with their age it's also their use. These are not Delta airline planes that go up, cruise and come back down. These aircraft yank and bank on a daily basis. Peacetime is worst on the airframe than wartime, a lot more G's are pulled. All of them have exceeded their original life expectancy by a bunch of hours.

The F-16 cannot perform a strictly air-to-air role as well as the F-15C, but it doesn't have to, the F-22 will still carry that load. The F-16 does a good job of air-to-air with the added benefit being able to provide air-to-ground capability. Most alert facilities in the US are equipped with the F-16 already.

The USAF has invested in the E-models. The newest ones were purchased in the early 2000's and have been modified with all of the newest bells and whistles. Our F-15E's are more capable than the ones sold overseas. Their airframes are an improvement over the C's and D's

At the end of the day, it all comes down to money. A new F-15E cost roughly 70 million, an F-22 is about 370 million (a WAG based on early 2000's #s). The "not as old" F-16's are already bought and paid for and are cheaper to fly. I know a lot of guard units went from F-4's to F-15's because the manning levels remained the same vs converting to F-16's, but the guard is feeling the same pinch as everyone else.