The United States of America has, since mid-World War II (known to some in Congress as World War Eleven), fielded some of the best fighter aircraft in the history of flight. There are names out of legend: Thunderbolt, Mustang, Sabre, Phantom, Tomcat, Eagle, and now the Raptor.
While quality counts for a lot, we need quantity, too. That's why Congress has set a floor for how many fighter aircraft the United States Air Force has to maintain. And now, Representative August Pfluger (TX-11), a former Air Force F-22 pilot, is warning that the Air Force has dropped below that minimum.
The Air Force’s primary fighter fleet dipped below the minimum allowable size under law earlier this year—and that fact should rally a “call to action” for the nation to reinvest in its airpower, a key lawmaker said June 2.
Rep. August Pfluger (R-Texas), a former F-22 pilot now serving in Congress, is sounding the alarm. “This is the moment I think that Congress needs to take action,” Pfluger said during an interview at AFA’s Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies. “Just that stat right there should wake up everybody. It should definitely be a call to action.”
Congress wrote into law in 2017 that the Air Force must maintain at least 1,145 fighters in its primary mission aircraft inventory (PMAI)—defined as those aircraft “assigned to meet the primary aircraft authorization to a unit for the performance of its wartime mission.”
Since World War II, the United States has worked to fight under secure airspace. In that war, we largely destroyed the Luftwaffe and the Japanese air forces. In Korea, we sent Saber jets up to contend with MiGs. In 1991, the Iraqi Air Force was swept from the skies in the first few hours, and we did that again to Iran in Operation Epic Fury; after a few hours, the Iranian pilots were looking at their aircraft and seeing coffins.
But to do that, we need air-superiority aircraft. That means fighters. And now we've dipped below the legal minimum. Not good.
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There are more fighters in the works. But it may not be enough.
The Trump administration’s proposed $1.5 trillion defense budget includes billions of dollars to improve aircraft readiness, but the Air Force’s procurement plans call for adding just 62 new USAF fighters in 2027: 38 F-35s and 24 F-15EXs. The service has long maintained that it needs to acquire at least 72 fighters a year, but consistently has fallen short of that mark.
That's not enough.
The United States doctrine depends on these birds: First, we gain air superiority and then air dominance, and then we attack ground forces. But we haven't faced a near-peer rival in air combat since the Korean War, when we sent F-86 Sabre fighters up against the (for the time) very capable MiG-15. In Desert Storm, our F-15 and F-16 fighters swept Iraqi fighters from the sky. Since then, we have only entered battle under a friendly sky.
But we can't plan on not having a near-peer conflict ever again. If we ever have to contend with, say, China, we will lose fighters and pilots. And we had better have replacements - and the capacity to build more. So far, that's not going so well.
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