Saturday, May 24, 2025
Saturday, May 24, 2025
Reps. Don Bacon (R-NE) and Jason Crow (D-CO) on Thursday introduced legislation that would maintain each of the Air Force's fighter squadrons as the service seeks to divest older jets and procure more modern ones.
The "Fighter Force Preservation and Recapitalization Act" would establish requirements for future fighter purchases to restore and modernize each of the “39 service-retained, combat-coded fighter squadrons available to the secretary of defense,” according to a news release. It would also give Congress significant oversight into how the Air Force chooses to recapitalize the aging fleet.
In its fiscal year 2025 budget request, the Air Force indicated its fleet would reach 4,903 aircraft -- a historic low -- as the service moves to divest 250 aircraft and procure 99.
A majority of the planned divestments would come from aging aircraft or those the service no longer considers combat capable, including the A-10 Warthog and F-15C Eagle. The idea is to prioritize quality over quantity, former Air Force officials have said, so it can put needed dollars that would have been allocated to sustain older platforms into more viable accounts.
Lawmakers have in recent years turned down efforts to reduce the legacy fleet, arguing it would significantly impact service preparedness. As a result, the Air Force in FY-25 only had enough purchasing power to ask for 60 new stealth fighters -- 18 F-15EX Eagle II jets and 42 F-35 Joint Strike Fighters -- rather than its stated goal of buying at least 72 annually, leaders from the previous administration indicated in the budget proposal.
The government is operating under a continuing resolution until at least next week while lawmakers continue to tease out the details of a final FY-25 spending bill.
If enacted, the legislation would “also prioritizes recapitalization of USAF Active Duty, Guard and Reserve units that are based in the homeland to improve the readiness of our Total Force fighter formations,” the news release stated. “Over the last 30 years, the Air Force fighter force structure has been reduced by nearly 60%, while the average age of fighter aircraft has increased by 200%.”
The FY-24 National Defense Authorization Act included a provision requiring the Air Force secretary to establish a “long-term tactical fighter force structure, recapitalization, training and sustainment plan for the active and reserve components of the Air Force.”
That plan, which is meant to be balanced against operational readiness and accompanying risk, will justify the next 12 years of procurement, divestment and mission reassignments for each unit, according to last year’s NDAA.
“The Department of Defense is simply not buying enough fighters to replace our aging aircraft that must be retired. The Air Force fighter fleet is currently in crisis, which now threatens our ability to project power and defend the skies over our homeland and along our borders,” Bacon and Crow said in a joint statement. “This legislation will stop the decline and stabilize the Air Force fighter force structure across the Active Duty, Guard and Reserve components. The brave men and women that protect the skies over our nation need the best equipment to do the job, and our legislation will give them the tools to do just that.”
The bill, which was introduced to the House Armed Services Committee, was co-sponsored by Reps. Jack Bergman (R-MI), Sarah Elfreth (D-MD), Andy Harris (R-MD), Steny Hoyer (D-RI), John James (R-MI), Dusty Johnson (R-SD) and Marcy Kaptur (D-OH).