Air Force wants to build up fighter inventory as focus in new 10-year plan shifts to homeland defense

By Vanessa Montalbano / October 27, 2025 at 8:00 AM
Over the next decade the Air Force wants to procure F-15EX Eagle II, F-35A Joint Strike Fighter and F-47 Next Generation Air Dominance jets in greater numbers to meet homeland defense priorities determined in the Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance , according to a report obtained by Inside Defense . Such a scheme could put 1,369 combat-capable aircraft on the ramp by early 2030, the service wrote in its long-term fighter force structure plan, which was requested in the...

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