A-10s with the Indiana Air National Guard’s 122nd Fighter Wing.
The U.S. Air Force’s plan to cut hundreds of aircraft over the next five years is too risky in the near-term, a small group of bipartisan lawmakers argues, while pushing a new measure that would force the service to limit how many fighter squadrons it reduces.
The proposal, the Fighter Force Preservation and Recapitalization Act of 2023, introduced last month, would require the service to maintain no fewer than 25 fighter aircraft squadrons in the Air National Guard, each with at least 18 primary aircraft. The Guard currently has 28 fighter squadrons, including units focusing on training.
“I think the Air Force is taking too much risk and I think it undermines our deterrence toward China and Russia,” says the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.).
Over the next five years, the service is cutting large numbers of its existing fighter fleets to free up funding for more F-35s, F-15EXs and eventually the Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) platform. The cuts include 260 A-10s, 149 F-15C/Ds, 119 F-15Es, 125 F-16C/Ds and 32 F-22s. While the service is buying new aircraft, they are coming on at a rate of one for every 2 1/2 aircraft that are retired.
Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall has argued that the divestments are required not only to free up funding for modernization, but also because most of the aircraft would not be relevant in combat in the Pacific. While Congress in recent years has steadily blocked planned retirements, the service has won over enough lawmakers to start retiring some of its A-10s this year.
While the older aircraft would not be relevant in a potential conflict with China, Bacon points to the current deployment of A-10s to Jordan and Europe as roles they can continue to fill. The older F-22s still can be used for training or for Middle East deployments such as flying over Syria.
Bacon tells Aerospace DAILY that protecting the Guard units is about more than just the aircraft. It also is about the personnel. A Guard pilot has double the experience of an active-duty pilot, and a maintainer on average has four more years of experience. If their unit is cut, these personnel likely will retire instead of rejoining active duty, he says.
The measure is co-sponsored by Reps. Jason Crow (D-Colo.), John James (R-Mich.), Doug Lamborn (R-Colo.), Dutch Ruppersberger, (D-Md.) and Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.).
Crow, in a statement, says the Guard is responsible for 94% of homeland air defense missions and about 30% of the total fighter force, but its aircraft are more than 28 years old on average.
“As the Air Force divests legacy platforms, we must replace them with newer and better planes that enable us to both defend our skies and retain the immense talent these squadrons provide, especially in light of a serious shortage in pilots and maintenance crews,” Ruppersberger says in the statement.
In addition to the minimum number of squadrons, the measure would require the Air Force Secretary and the Air National Guard to develop a plan for a one-for-one recapitalization of Guard squadrons by the end of 2034 and a plan to field NGAD in the Guard.
