{"id":83506,"date":"2023-04-06T19:36:24","date_gmt":"2023-04-06T19:36:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/uncategorized\/2023\/04\/06\/us-air-force-asks-for-72-fighters-in-2024-and-it-might-happen-again\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T00:54:31","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T00:54:31","slug":"us-air-force-asks-for-72-fighters-in-2024-and-it-might-happen-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/news\/your-air-force\/2023\/04\/06\/us-air-force-asks-for-72-fighters-in-2024-and-it-might-happen-again\/","title":{"rendered":"US Air Force asks for 72 fighters in 2024, and it might happen again"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Correction: A previous version of this story overstated the U.S. Air Force\u2019s fighter acquisition plans. Rather than guarantee, the service anticipates it will again request 72 fighters.<\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n

WASHINGTON \u2014 For the first time in recent history, the U.S. Air Force this year directly asked Congress for the full complement of 72 fighters it says it needs in its next budget request. And the general in charge of planning for the service\u2019s future<\/a> said Thursday this might not be the last time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Top Air Force leaders have said for years that it needs to buy at least 72 new fighters<\/a> each year to both modernize its fighter fleet and lower the age of the average plane. If it doesn\u2019t bring on that many new fighters annually, generals warn<\/a>, the service won\u2019t have enough new aircraft to replace aging and retiring fighters, such as the F-15C.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But that goal has long been out of reach. For years, Congress has approved fighter procurements that are below the Air Force\u2019s desired goal, sometimes significantly so, and the service hasn\u2019t asked for everything its leaders say it needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fiscal 2024 budget proposal<\/a> released in March broke that trend by directly asking for money to buy 48 new F-35As and 24 F-15EX Eagle IIs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And in an online forum hosted by the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, Lt. Gen. Richard Moore, the Air Force\u2019s deputy chief of staff for plans and programs, said that won\u2019t be \u201ca one-time thing\u201d \u2014 a sign of how the service is changing its strategy for budget planning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis year, for the first time since I\u2019ve been in this business, there are 72 new fighters in the Air Force\u2019s budget,\u201d Moore said. \u201cWe\u2019re super excited about that. \u2026 I certainly think you\u2019ll see it again.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Expectation vs. reality<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Typically in recent years, the Air Force has not asked for everything it wants in its base budget request and included some desired items in an unfunded priorities list.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, the FY23 budget request originally asked for 33 new F-35As and 24 F-15EXs \u2014 57 in all. The service asked for seven additional F-35As as part of its $4.6 billion wish list that year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Congress eventually approved a total of 43 F-35As, along with 24 F-15EXs, for a total of 67 fighters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the Air Force is shifting away from that approach as it tries to more reliably plan for future needs, Moore said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSome of the things we\u2019ve talked about over the last several budget cycles are now a part of the base budget,\u201d Moore explained. \u201cThey\u2019re not a part of the unfunded priorities list, they\u2019re not a wish list. Seventy-two fighters is a great example.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Air Force\u2019s $2.5 billion wish list for FY24 was a little more than half the size of the previous fiscal year\u2019s list, and did not ask for any additional fighters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It asked for more than $633 million to accelerate the delivery of the Boeing E-7A aircraft that will replace the E-3 Sentry, and nearly $64 million to buy a dozen conformal fuel tanks for the F-15EX, which will extend their range and weapons capacity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But while the Air Force wants to make it a trend to ask for 72 fighter, Moore said some of this depends on Lockheed Martin\u2019s ability to build F-35s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs we reach what we believe is a sustainable fleet size in what we need in the F-15EX, we\u2019ll have to see what capacity is available in the F-35 world, or whatever else it may be that we look at,\u201d Moore said. \u201cRight now, it\u2019s predicated on the fact that we have two hot fighter production lines, and that will be the case by the middle or the end of the\u201d Air Force\u2019s spending plan over the next five years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The service now plans to buy a total of 104 F-15EXs, with the final 24 scheduled to be requested in FY25. Air Force budget documents show the service expects to request 48 new F-35s each year through FY28.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moore said the defense-industrial base also has limitations, including lingering supply chain and workforce issues stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic, that would make it hard to bring on more than 72 fighters per year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe will bring on advanced capabilities at the max rate we can,\u201d Moore said. But \u201cthe defense-industrial base can only support so much procurement.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moore also said the budget proposal shows how the Air Force intends to update its fighter fleet with future capabilities \u2014 some of which are still being designed \u2014 to be able to counter China in a possible future war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moore said the Air Force\u2019s plan to retire 32 block 20 F-22A Raptor fighters would save roughly $2.5 billion over five years, which would be steered toward the sixth-generation Next Generation Air Dominance platform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is crystal clear to us that in order to get into the early to mid-[20]30s with a force that can win, we have to get to a sixth-gen fighter, and that\u2019s NGAD,\u201d Moore added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While those F-22s earmarked for retirement are fifth-generation fighters, Moore said, they aren\u2019t combat-capable and never will be without a significant investment. Updating them with modern communications systems, electronic warfare capabilities and weapons would take about a decade to get started, cost about $3.5 billion and take Lockheed Martin\u2019s already short-staffed engineers away from the F-35 program\u2019s block 4 modernization effort.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat is a trade to us that doesn\u2019t make any sense at all: to upgrade aircraft a decade from now at great expense, while impacting the F-35 block 4 at the same time,\u201d Moore said. \u201cWe don\u2019t think that\u2019s a viable course of action.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moore also said focusing on research and development investments is a top priority for Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a sign of how important Kendall sees this effort, the Department of the Air Force\u2019s proposed budget for research, development, test and evaluation would rise nearly $5 billion to $55.4 billion in its FY24 budget proposal \u2014 a nearly 10% increase, and most of the department\u2019s proposed total budget increase of $9.3 billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That wave of R&D is crucial, even if some of those programs don\u2019t end up going into procurement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe secretary actually is fine with that,\u201d Moore said. \u201cHe believes that if we don\u2019t do the research and development now while we have time on our side, when the time comes that we need to put things into procurement, there\u2019ll be nothing to procure because the research and development won\u2019t have been done yet.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Top Air Force leaders have said for years that it needs to buy at least 72 new fighters each year to both modernize its fighter fleet and lower its 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