Overview
- The Air Force submitted an unclassified force-structure report to Congress on Oct. 16 and Lt. Gen. David Tabor outlined the 1,509 combat‑coded fighter goal at a Pentagon briefing on Oct. 20.
- The service plans for the fleet mix to be roughly 40% F‑35s, about 20% F‑22s replaced one‑for‑one by the sixth‑generation F‑47, and the remaining 40% split between F‑15 variants and F‑16s.
- The FY2027 base buy seeks 38 F‑35s and 24 F‑15EXs and counts on $2.34 billion from a budget reconciliation package to fund 14 additional F‑35s, a funding source that is uncertain and could delay purchases.
- Uncrewed Collaborative Combat Aircraft are excluded from the 1,509 count even though the Air Force plans to field 500 of them by 2032, and the service is pressing to use a Combat‑Coded Total Aircraft Inventory metric rather than Congress’s PMAI accounting.
- Reaching the goal depends on industry meeting higher production rates, Congress approving multiyear procurement or extra appropriations, and program choices such as whether to buy a new‑build F‑16 to recapitalize aging fleets.