The defense authorization committees propose limiting U.S. Air Force retirements of Boeing [BA] F-15E fighters.
In addition to divesting the service’s aged F-15Cs and Ds, the Air Force has been planning to reduce its F-15E fleet from 217 to 99 in the coming years, as the service fields F-15EXs (Defense Daily, Apr. 26).
Through fiscal 2029, the Air Force “may not retire more than 68 F–15E aircraft; reduce funding for unit personnel or weapon system sustainment activities for retained F–15E aircraft in a manner that presumes future congressional authority to divest such aircraft; or keep an F–15E aircraft (other than an aircraft identified for retirement [in the FYDP maximum divestment of 68] in a status considered excess to the requirements of the possessing command and awaiting disposition instructions (commonly referred to as ‘XJ’ status),” according to the conference report on the fiscal 2024 defense authorization bill.
For each of the maximum 68 aircraft that the Air Force may divest, the report requires the Air Force to inform the authorizing committees of “each upgrade and modification made to such aircraft, including the date of the upgrade or modification; and the cost of such upgrade or modification in current year dollars; and the estimated remaining service life (expressed as equivalent flight hours and years) of the aircraft and the onboard systems of the aircraft.’’
Congressional defense authorizers propose nearly $2.5 billion in fiscal 2024 to buy 24 F-15EXs and $228 million for F-15EX advance procurement.
Air Combat Command (ACC) has outlined a need for 28 fighter squadrons to project power in the Indo-Pacific, Europe and the Middle East, eight squadrons for crisis response, 16 squadrons for homeland defense and eight squadrons for modernization and training.
This year, Reps. Don Bacon (R-Neb.), Doug Lamborn (R-Colo.), C.A. “Dutch” Ruppersberger (D-Md.), Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.), Jason Crow (D-Colo.), and John James (R-Mich.) introduced H.R. 3392, the Fighter Force Preservation and Recapitalization Act. to sustain Air National Guard (ANG) fighter squadron force structure at the current level of 25 in 22 states (Defense Daily, May 17).
Bacon, Lamborn, and Slotkin are members of the House Armed Services Committee, and Ruppersberger serves on the House Appropriations Committee’s defense subcommittee.
Congressional appropriators said last year that a
planned Air Force reduction in its total buy of Boeing [BA] F-15EX fighters from 144 to 80 “leaves in doubt the status and future of F-l5C/D units, several of which are housed in the Air National Guard” (Defense Daily, Dec. 20, 2022). The Air Force fiscal 2024 budget outlines a total buy of 104 F-15EXs.
Congressional defense authorizers also would fund the buy of 48 Lockheed Martin [LMT] F-35As in fiscal 2024 for nearly $4.8 billion–a reduction of almost $125 million from the Air Force budget request due to “flyaway unit cost growth”–and $402 million for F-35 advance procurement. The Air Force has said that the 48 F-35As and 24 F-15EXs will help boost the service’s number of fighter squadrons to deter China.
In April, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Dave Allvin, at the time, the service’s vice chief, told the House Armed Services Committee’s readiness panel that he agreed with Air Combat Command head Gen. Mark Kelly’s statement that the Air Force needs 60 modernized fighter squadrons, but only has 48 such squadrons (Defense Daily, Apr. 19).