Since the U.S. Air Force’s establishment in the National Security Act of 1947 (P.L. 80-253, Title II, §207), Congress has provided oversight of the size and composition of Air Force aircraft fleet. The service’s aircraft fleet includes tactical fighter aircraft for various missions, including air-to-air combat, air-to-ground attack, air interdiction, suppression or destruction of enemy air defenses, close air support, strike control and reconnaissance, combat search and rescue support, and airborne forward air control. U.S. fighter inventories have varied across eras, reflecting changes in strategic demands, operational concepts, technology, and aircraft complexity. During World War II, the U.S. Army Air Forces fought a two-front global war and worked with defense contractors to build more than 100,000 fighters. During the Cold War, technological advancements made fighter aircraft more capable. The Air Force maintained smaller inventories while leveraging foreign military sales to allied air forces to bolster coalition airpower and interoperability. The Air Force fleet in 2025 contained what the service calls “legacy aircraft” (e.g., F-16, F-15) equipped with engines designed for high maneuverability and speed and advanced radar and weapons, as well as “fifth-generation” (e.g., F-22 and F-35) fighter aircraft differentiated by stealth features, electronic warfare capability, and improved avionics. Potential threats in the Pacific theater would require aircraft to operate at longer ranges and to counter advanced air defense and electronic warfare threats. In consideration of such requirements, the Air Force is developing more advanced fighter aircraft that could operate with collaborative combat aircraft affordable enough to buy in large numbers. Congress in Title 10, Section 9062, of the U.S. Code requires the U.S. Air Force to maintain a total primary mission aircraft inventory of not less than 1,145 fighter aircraft. Congress also has established a statutory requirement in Title 10, Section 9062a, of the U.S. Code for the service to submit annual reports on the fighter force structure. In October 2025, the Air Force transmitted to Congress the report Long-Term USAF Fighter Force Structure, which outlined a new approach to counting the total number of fighter aircraft in its fleet. In this report, the Air Force stated that it does not expect to meet in FY2026 Congress’s fighter force size requirement; operates a heavily used and aging fleet, with an average aircraft age of 27.4 years; seeks to retire older aircraft and purchase annually up to 24 F-15EXs by 2027 and 100 F-35s by 2030; plans for the development of the sixth-generation F-47 fighter to reach a goal of 1,558 fighters by 2035; intends to use uncrewed collaborative combat aircraft to enhance operation of, but not replace, manned fighter aircraft; faces potential constraints on production capacity, readiness, sustainment, and its workforce; and is considering how to modernize Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve units. Potential considerations for Congress regarding the Air Force’s fighter force structure plans may include whether to support, oppose, or modify the service’s goal of obtaining 1,558 crewed fighters by 2035; this may include consideration of the sufficiency of information available for overseeing the cost of developing, acquiring, and maintaining the fighter force, as well as whether to provide more, less, or the same level of funding requested for developing, acquiring, and maintaining the fighter force; how to exercise oversight of plans for quantifying and/or integrating uncrewed aircraft into the force; whether to support, oppose, or modify the service’s plans to retire older fighter aircraft to a specified inventory level and the implications of those decisions for force structure, readiness, and capability; how to address certain readiness issues, including Air Force pilot and maintainer shortages and limited training time and industrial base constraints in supply chains, spare parts, and the workforce; and how to resolve potential differences in approaches to modernizing Reserve Force fighter fleets.
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