ARLINGTON- The US Air Force (USAF) plans to buy around 108 new aircraft in fiscal year 2027, but senior leaders say they would purchase more if industry could build them faster. According to the service, contractor production capacity, not funding, is now the main limit on fleet growth.
Gen. John Lamontagne, the service’s second-ranking officer, said the Air Force’s demand for new aircraft is outpacing what manufacturers can deliver on schedule. He made the remarks on June 4 at AFA’s Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, pointing to slow production lines as the core problem.
US Air Force Seeks Higher Production
Lamontagne said the Air Force demand signal is currently stronger than what industry can supply. “It’s [about] how quickly the industry can respond to our demand signal? And right now, I’d say our demand signal is outstripping their ability to produce quality airplanes on schedule, on time,” he said. He added that manufacturers need time to set up new production lines or increase output.
The fiscal 2027 budget request includes 38 F-35As, 24 F-15EX Eagle II fighters, 23 T-7A Red Hawk trainer aircraft, and 15 KC-46 Pegasus refueling tankers. It also includes an undisclosed number of B-21 Raider bombers.
Lamontagne indicated that the service would have spent more of its budget increase on aircraft if production had allowed. “Candidly, we probably had some more opportunities to buy, but the industry can’t quite respond that quickly to what we’d like to do,” he said.
Fighter Purchases Fall Short Of Annual Target
The number of fighters in the request surprised some observers when the budget was released this spring.
The overall defense budget rose to $1.5 trillion, and the Air Force budget grew by about 25 percent. Even so, the service’s 62 new fighters fell short of its longstanding goal of 72 new fighters per year.
That annual target exists to hold down the average age of the fighter fleet and keep capacity steady. The shortfall reflects the production limits Lamontagne described rather than a lack of available funding.
In the short term, the service is keeping more of its older aircraft than it had previously planned to retire. These include the A-10 close air support aircraft and the KC-135 tanker. Lamontagne said the higher Air Force topline makes it easier to retain these airframes while new production catches up, Air and Space Forces reported.
Stable Funding And Multiyear Contracts
Beyond retaining older jets, the goal is to raise industry production rates. Lamontagne said Pentagon and Air Force leaders are working to give vendors a stronger demand signal so they feel confident investing in their production lines. He said manufacturers are currently put off by “sawtooth” funding that changes every year.
“The more predictable and stable that funding is over time, it will enable that facilitization and the incentives to build more airplanes over time,” he said. “So, we’d love to buy more.”
One method to keep funding predictable is the multiyear contract. Congress is currently considering legislation that would allow the Air Force to enter multiyear procurement deals for the F-35 and the F-15EX.
Lamontagne said the service is working to build support for that approach. “I think that serves our interest very, very well going forward,” he said.
Future Tanker Plans Shift Direction
Lamontagne is a KC-135 and C-17 pilot by trade and came to the Vice Chief role after serving at Air Mobility Command. In that earlier role, he oversaw an analysis of alternatives for the Next-Generation Aerial Refueling System (NGAS).
For years, the Air Force has planned a future tanker to replace its remaining Eisenhower-era KC-135s. That tanker would fly deeper into contested airspace to refuel stealthy aircraft such as the F-35 and the future F-47.
In the 2027 request, however, the service shelved NGAS in favor of a new Advanced Tanker Systems program. Faced with a large modernization portfolio that includes new bombers, fighters, drones, trainers, and intercontinental ballistic missiles, officials chose to focus less on a new airplane and more on upgrading existing refuelers to survive in hostile airspace.
The NGAS concept now appears deferred rather than cancelled, as the service focuses on buying more KC-46s. “We certainly need to procure another airplane,” Lamontagne said. “As we go towards 188 KC-46s, and then another 75, we’ll need to make a decision after that on how we want to continue to [recapitalize] the KC-135. There will still be probably north of 200 KC-135s that need to be recapped, and so we’ll need to make a decision on exactly how we’re going to do that going forward.”
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