{"id":29114622,"date":"2026-10-22T11:14:15","date_gmt":"2026-10-22T09:14:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/usaf-fighter-fleet-1509-combat-coded-fighters-2035\/"},"modified":"2026-10-22T11:14:19","modified_gmt":"2026-10-22T09:14:19","slug":"usaf-fighter-fleet-1509-combat-coded-fighters-2035","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/usaf-fighter-fleet-1509-combat-coded-fighters-2035\/","title":{"rendered":"USAF Fighter Fleet: Air Force Wants 1,509 Combat Jets by 2035"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<style>.et_pb_title_container h1.entry-title { padding-top: 40px !important; }<\/style>\n\n\n\n<!-- mfsh:top -->\n\n<style>\n.mfsh-trigger{display:inline-flex;align-items:center;gap:10px;height:44px;padding:0 18px;margin:0 0 26px;border:2px solid #0F1720;background:#fff;color:#0F1720;font-family:inherit;font-size:14px;font-weight:700;line-height:1;letter-spacing:0;text-transform:none;cursor:pointer;box-shadow:none;transition:background 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That is the headline of a new fighter force structure report the service sent to Congress on 16 October 2026, and it is a lot more jets than the USAF fighter fleet has today.<\/p>\n<p>The catch, as with most Pentagon numbers ending in a nine, is the bill. The Air Force has said for years it must buy 72 fighters a year to keep its fleet from ageing out. Its fiscal 2027 request buys 62.<\/p>\n<p>Lt. Gen. David Tabor, the service&rsquo;s deputy chief of staff for plans and programs, walked reporters through the report at a Pentagon roundtable on 20 October. Reporters did not get a copy. They did get the shape of the future force, and a remarkably relaxed view of the F-16 question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"background:#f4f6f9;border-left:4px solid #5C91FF;padding:18px 22px;margin:28px 0\"><p style=\"margin:0 0 10px;font-weight:700;color:#0d1117;font-size:17px\">Quick Facts<\/p><p style=\"margin:5px 0;font-size:15px;color:#333\"><strong>Requirement:<\/strong> 1,509 combat-coded fighters by 2035<\/p><p style=\"margin:5px 0;font-size:15px;color:#333\"><strong>Report sent to Congress:<\/strong> 16 October 2026<\/p><p style=\"margin:5px 0;font-size:15px;color:#333\"><strong>Briefed by:<\/strong> Lt. Gen. David Tabor, deputy chief of staff for plans and programs, 20 October 2026<\/p><p style=\"margin:5px 0;font-size:15px;color:#333\"><strong>2035 mix:<\/strong> About 40% F-35, 20% F-22\/F-47, 40% F-15 and F-16<\/p><p style=\"margin:5px 0;font-size:15px;color:#333\"><strong>Not counted:<\/strong> A-10s and Collaborative Combat Aircraft<\/p><p style=\"margin:5px 0;font-size:15px;color:#333\"><strong>FY2027 request:<\/strong> 38 F-35s + 24 F-15EXs = 62 fighters (goal: 72 a year)<\/p><p style=\"margin:5px 0;font-size:15px;color:#333\"><strong>New-build F-16:<\/strong> No decision; unlikely in the FY2028 budget<\/p><\/div>\n\n\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">Two in five will be F-35s<\/h2>\n\n\n<p>By 2035, about 40 percent of the fleet would be <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/aircraft\/f-35-lightning-ii\/\">F-35A<\/a>s, up from roughly 30 percent today, Tabor said. Another 20 percent would be a mix of <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/aircraft\/f-22-raptor\/\">F-22 Raptor<\/a>s and their sixth-generation successor, the F-47, which the service still plans to buy in roughly one-for-one numbers to replace the Raptor.<\/p>\n<p>The remaining 40 percent would be split roughly evenly between <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/aircraft\/f-15-eagle\/\">F-15<\/a> variants and <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/aircraft\/f-16-fighting-falcon\/\">F-16 Fighting Falcon<\/a>s. Today, excluding A-10s, the mix is about 45 percent F-16, 30 percent F-35, 15 percent F-15 and 10 percent F-22.<\/p>\n<p>Run the percentages against 1,509 and the 2035 force works out at roughly 600 F-35s, 300 Raptors and F-47s, and 600 Eagles and Vipers. Those are Afterburner&rsquo;s back-of-envelope figures, not the report&rsquo;s, and the percentages themselves are approximate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin:0 0 24px;width:100%\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" width=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/10\/usaf-fighter-fleet-1509-combat-coded-fighters-2035-img1.jpg\" alt=\"Two U.S. Air Force F-35A Lightning II fighters flying in close formation over Arizona\" style=\"width:100%;height:auto;max-width:100%;display:block\"><figcaption style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin-top:6px;font-style:italic\">Two F-35As of the F-35 Demonstration Team from Hill Air Force Base fly in formation over Arizona, 27 March 2023. By 2035, two in every five USAF fighters could be F-35s. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Thomas Barley)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">Why the number went up<\/h2>\n\n\n<p>Last year&rsquo;s report aimed for 1,369 combat-coded fighters by fiscal 2030. Tabor said the data behind it was &ldquo;pretty old&rdquo;, so planners built a fresh analysis. According to TWZ, the USAF fighter fleet counted 1,168 combat-coded fighters at the start of fiscal 2026, plus 103 A-10s.<\/p>\n<p>The new figure rests on what regional combatant commanders say they need to achieve their goals at &ldquo;medium risk&rdquo;, the second rung of a four-step scale. Tabor said the work began before this year&rsquo;s war with Iran and was not driven by it, and warned that world events, new capabilities and technology will all move the number.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/aircraft\/a-10-warthog\/\">A-10<\/a> is not part of the 2035 count at all, because the Warthog is not in the Air Force&rsquo;s plans for that year. Neither are drones: the service intends to field 500 Collaborative Combat Aircraft by 2032, but Tabor said they do not yet change the fighter requirement, though future reports may count them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%;height:0;overflow:hidden;margin:24px 0 8px\"><iframe class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/yTt_TJo9EF4\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;border:0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div><p style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin:0 0 24px;font-style:italic\">Boeing&rsquo;s F-15EX Eagle II, one of the two fighters the Air Force is buying in its fiscal 2027 request.<\/p>\n\n\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">The 62-versus-72 problem<\/h2>\n\n\n<p>The fiscal 2027 request asks for 38 F-35As and 24 F-15EXs, ten short of the 72-a-year rate Air Force leaders keep citing. Tabor said purchases can ramp up over time, provided Congress pays and Lockheed Martin and Boeing deliver.<\/p>\n<p>Even the 38 F-35s are not a sure thing. The budget counts on $2.34 billion from a reconciliation bill to fund 14 of them. If that bill fails, the Air Force can raid other programmes or slip the jets to 2028, which Tabor summed up as losing &ldquo;14 times [an] F-35&rsquo;s worth of other capabilities.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>The service is also asking Congress for multiyear contracts on the F-35 and F-15EX, which Tabor said would give industry the stability to expand production. Industry says it can deliver; the Air Force, in Tabor&rsquo;s words, believes them but needs to &ldquo;see it manifest.&rdquo;<\/p>\n\n\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">The F-16G can wait<\/h2>\n\n\n<p>Older F-16s reach the end of their service lives in the mid-2030s, and Lockheed Martin reportedly pitched a new-build Viper last month, tentatively called the F-16G, to be built on its Greenville, South Carolina, line. Tabor called buying more F-16s the simple, &ldquo;and maybe the lazy&rdquo;, answer, while conceding that it is &ldquo;practically a ready-made aircraft.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>A decision is unlikely in the fiscal 2028 budget process, he said, and may come in the years after. In other words: the Air Force is in no hurry, and wants everyone to know it is in no hurry on purpose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"background:#f8f9fa;border-left:4px solid #5C91FF;padding:20px 22px;margin:18px 0 24px;font-size:16px;line-height:1.7\"><div><em>&ldquo;There is a spectrum of capability that we might want to replace the F-16s with. It&rsquo;s not urgent, frankly. What we don&rsquo;t want to get to is a point where it is urgent, and we haven&rsquo;t done the homework and decided &lsquo;hey, this is really the right place to be.&rsquo;&rdquo;<\/em><div style=\"margin-top:10px;font-size:14px;color:#555\"><strong>Lt. Gen. David Tabor<\/strong> &mdash; USAF Deputy Chief of Staff for Plans and Programs, 20 October 2026 (as quoted by Air &amp; Space Forces Magazine)<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin:0 0 24px;width:100%\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" width=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/10\/usaf-fighter-fleet-1509-combat-coded-fighters-2035-img2.jpg\" alt=\"A U.S. Air Force F-15EX Eagle II of the 40th Flight Test Squadron flying over the Gulf\" style=\"width:100%;height:auto;max-width:100%;display:block\"><figcaption style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin-top:6px;font-style:italic\">An F-15EX Eagle II of the 40th Flight Test Squadron, Eglin AFB, over the Gulf, 16 September 2025. The fiscal 2027 request buys 24 of them. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Blake Wiles)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">A number with a lot of conditions<\/h2>\n\n\n<p>For now, 1,509 is less a fleet than a negotiating position with Congress and a challenge to two production lines. It spans several budget cycles and at least one presidential election, any of which can rewrite it.<\/p>\n<p>The USAF fighter fleet of 2035 will be decided the old-fashioned way: one appropriations bill at a time. The Air Force has stated its requirement; now Congress has to decide what to fund.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Sources: Air &amp; Space Forces Magazine, Air Force Times \/ Defense News, TWZ, U.S. Air Force, DVIDS, Boeing<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<!-- mfsh:bottom -->\n\n<button type=\"button\" class=\"mfsh-trigger mfsh-bottom\" data-mfsh-placement=\"bottom\" aria-haspopup=\"dialog\"><svg><use href=\"#mfsh-i-share\"\/><\/svg>Share this story<\/button>\n\n<!-- \/mfsh:bottom -->\n\n\n\n<style>.mfq{margin:34px 0 8px}.mfq h2{font:26px\/1.3 \"Gilroy semiBold\",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:#0d1117;padding-top:22px;margin:0 0 6px}.mfq .qa details{border-top:1px solid #5C91FF;margin:0;padding:0}.mfq .qa details:last-of-type{border-bottom:1px solid #e2e7ee}.mfq .qa summary{cursor:pointer;list-style:none;display:flex;justify-content:space-between;align-items:center;gap:16px;padding:22px 26px;font:18px\/1.7 \"Gilroy semiBold\",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:#0d1117}.mfq .qa summary::-webkit-details-marker{display:none}.mfq .qa summary::after{content:\"+\";font:24px Helvetica,sans-serif;color:#3568e0;flex:0 0 auto}.mfq .qa details[open] summary::after{content:\"\\2013\"}.mfq .qa details:hover summary{color:#3568e0}.mfq .qa .a{font:16px\/1.7 \"Gilroy regular\",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:#454e5e;padding:0 26px 24px}.mfq .qa .a a{color:#3568e0}@media(max-width:680px){.mfq .qa summary{padding:18px 14px;font-size:17px}.mfq .qa .a{padding:0 14px 20px}}<\/style>\n\n\n<section class=\"mfq\"><h2>Frequently Asked Questions<\/h2><div class=\"qa\"><details open><summary>How many fighters does the U.S. Air Force say it needs by 2035?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">The U.S. Air Force says it needs 1,509 combat-coded fighters by 2035, meaning jets assigned to combat units. The figure comes from a fighter force structure report sent to Congress on 16 October 2026 and briefed by Lt. Gen. David Tabor on 20 October. Last year's report aimed for 1,369 combat-coded fighters by fiscal 2030.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>What will the USAF fighter fleet look like in 2035?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">According to Lt. Gen. David Tabor, about 40 percent of the 2035 fleet would be F-35s, 20 percent F-22s and F-47s, and the remaining 40 percent split roughly evenly between F-15s and F-16s. Today the mix, excluding A-10s, is about 45 percent F-16, 30 percent F-35, 15 percent F-15 and 10 percent F-22.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>How many fighters does the Air Force's fiscal 2027 budget request buy?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">The fiscal 2027 request asks for 38 F-35As and 24 F-15EXs, a total of 62 fighters. Air Force leaders have long said the service needs 72 new fighters a year. The budget relies on 2.34 billion dollars from a reconciliation bill to fund 14 of the 38 F-35s, which could otherwise slip to 2028.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>Will the U.S. Air Force buy the new-build F-16G?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">No decision has been made. Lt. Gen. David Tabor said choosing whether to buy a new-build F-16, tentatively called the F-16G, is not urgent and is unlikely to be part of the fiscal 2028 budget. Older F-16s reach the end of their service lives in the mid-2030s, and the service is weighing a range of replacement options.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>Does the 1,509-fighter goal include A-10s or CCA drones?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">No. The 1,509 figure excludes the A-10, which is not part of the Air Force's plans for 2035, and it does not count Collaborative Combat Aircraft. The service plans to field 500 CCAs by 2032, but Lt. Gen. David Tabor said the drones do not yet change the fighter requirement, though future reports may account for them.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>Will the F-47 replace the F-22 Raptor one-for-one?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">The Air Force still plans to replace its F-22 Raptors with roughly an equivalent number of F-47 sixth-generation fighters, Lt. Gen. David Tabor said. Together, F-22s and F-47s would make up about 20 percent of the planned 1,509 combat-coded fighters in 2035, double the Raptor's roughly 10 percent share of today's fleet.<\/div><\/details><\/div><\/section>\n\n\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@type\":\"FAQPage\",\"mainEntity\":[{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"How many fighters does the U.S. Air Force say it needs by 2035?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"The U.S. Air Force says it needs 1,509 combat-coded fighters by 2035, meaning jets assigned to combat units. The figure comes from a fighter force structure report sent to Congress on 16 October 2026 and briefed by Lt. Gen. David Tabor on 20 October. Last year's report aimed for 1,369 combat-coded fighters by fiscal 2030.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"What will the USAF fighter fleet look like in 2035?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"According to Lt. Gen. David Tabor, about 40 percent of the 2035 fleet would be F-35s, 20 percent F-22s and F-47s, and the remaining 40 percent split roughly evenly between F-15s and F-16s. Today the mix, excluding A-10s, is about 45 percent F-16, 30 percent F-35, 15 percent F-15 and 10 percent F-22.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"How many fighters does the Air Force's fiscal 2027 budget request buy?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"The fiscal 2027 request asks for 38 F-35As and 24 F-15EXs, a total of 62 fighters. Air Force leaders have long said the service needs 72 new fighters a year. 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Together, F-22s and F-47s would make up about 20 percent of the planned 1,509 combat-coded fighters in 2035, double the Raptor's roughly 10 percent share of today's fleet.\"}}]}<\/script><div style=\"background:#f0f4ff;border-left:4px solid #5C91FF;padding:16px 20px;margin:32px 0 8px\"><p style=\"margin:0 0 8px;font-weight:600;color:#333\">Related Posts<\/p><p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/f-47-production-line-not-too-far-away-helfrich-mitchell-institute-2026\/\">F-47 Production Line \u201cNot Too Far Away\u201d, Says USAF Fighter Chief<\/a><\/p><p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/ge-xa102-adaptive-cycle-engine-assembly-ngap-f-47-2026\/\">GE Prepares to Build the First XA102, the Adaptive Engine Meant for the F-47<\/a><\/p><p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/f-47-fa-xx-industrial-base-capacity-gen-dale-white-2026\/\">F-47 and F\/A-XX: The Industrial Base Problem Nobody Solved<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Share this story The U.S. Air Force has put a number on what it needs to fight: 1,509 combat-coded fighters by 2035. That is the headline of a new fighter force structure report the service sent to Congress on 16 October 2026, and it is a lot more jets than the USAF fighter fleet has [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":29114567,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"editor_notices":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[664,670],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29114622","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-military-aviation","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>USAF Fighter Fleet: 1,509 Jets Needed by 2035 | MiGFlug<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The USAF fighter fleet should reach 1,509 combat-coded jets by 2035, says a new report to Congress. 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