The Air Force wants $3.2 billion more than its current budget to fix aircraft that are breaking faster than they can be repaired. Vice Chief Gen. John Lamontagne told lawmakers that the service’s demand for new airplanes is outstripping contractors’ ability to produce them — and the jets already in service are not flying enough because there are not enough parts, not enough maintainers, and not enough depot capacity. It is a readiness crisis hiding behind procurement numbers. The Air Force plans to buy just 62 new fighters in fiscal 2027 — 38 F-35s and 24 F-15EXs — well below the 72 fighters per year the service says it needs simply to arrest the fleet’s decline.

The Numbers Gap

The Air Force’s primary fighter fleet has already dropped below the legal minimum of 1,145 aircraft set by Congress in 2017. With approximately 1,900 combat-coded fighters, the service sits 70 aircraft below the 1,970 minimum required by the 2021 NDAA. These are not aspirational targets — they are legal requirements the Air Force is currently violating.

The problem is structural. The Air Force retires old aircraft faster than new ones arrive. F-16 Block 25s and 30s are being sent to the boneyard. A-10s are being fought over. F-15C/Ds are disappearing. And the replacements — F-35As and F-15EXs — trickle in at a rate that cannot keep pace.

Production Cannot Keep Up

Lamontagne’s blunt assessment reflects a reality beyond the Air Force. Defence contractors face supply chain disruptions, labour shortages, and the sheer complexity of building fifth-generation aircraft. Lockheed Martin delivered a record 191 F-35s in 2025, but that pace required clearing a backlog caused by TR-3 delays. The $3.2 billion request targets the other side of the equation: keeping existing jets flyable. Depot backlogs, spare parts shortages, and a chronic maintainer shortage have pushed mission-capable rates below targets for years. More money for depots means more aircraft on the flight line — in theory.

A Force in Decline?

Fewer fighters than the law requires. Fewer new aircraft than the service says it needs. A $3.2 billion emergency request. A vice chief publicly conceding the industrial base cannot deliver. The quality-over-quantity argument — every F-35 is worth several F-16s — is true in the abstract but less so when half the F-35 fleet is grounded for software updates. The $3.2 billion request is a bandage on a structural wound. What the Air Force needs is a sustained, multi-year commitment to buying 72+ fighters per year, investing in depot capacity, and paying maintainers enough to stay. Whether Congress will deliver is the question nobody in the Pentagon wants to answer. Sources: Air & Space Forces Magazine, Defense News, Military Times