(Washington, D.C.) A close look at the Air Force budget seems to indicate that, despite the criticisms, hesitation and debate surrounding the F-35, the service is accelerating its transition from a largely 4th-generation force of fighters … to 5th and 6th-generation aircraft.
The evidence that a large-scale migration toward the F-35 is gaining momentum is not only seen in the Air Force request for 48 new F-35s in 2022 but, perhaps to an even greater extent, noticeable in the fast-pace at which legacy 4th-generation aircraft are being retired or replaced by F-35s. However, despite the existing numbers of F-35s which are called for in the budget, many senior lawmakers, such as Sen. James Inhofe – (R-Okla), continue to express concern about acquisition plans for the 5th-gen aircraft and ask why there are no F-35s on the “unfunded list” of priorities sent to Congress.
Despite what many see as insufficient numbers of F-35s requested in the budget, the aircraft is progressively expanding its presence within the Air Force, as their arrival parallels a large-scale retirement of 4th-Gen fighters. The Air Force budget calls for the retirement of 48 F-15C/D Eagles and 47 of its oldest F-16C/D Vipers, according to a budget summary identified in The Drive. Furthermore, the Air Force hopes to retire as many as 124 Vipers by 2026 and retire six squadrons worth of F-16s. All of this is, according to senior Air Force weapons developers, part of a massive air fleet overhaul migrating the fighter force to the F-35 in larger numbers. Are the new F-35s arriving fast-enough in sufficient numbers? Perhaps not.
All of these maneuvers seem to illustrate a larger fleet configuration transformation wherein the Air Force is trying to migrate its fighter force more fully toward the F-35, despite the criticisms of the aircraft and continued disagreements related to F-35 costs.
4th-Generation Aircraft | F-15 and F-16
Many are likely to welcome a rapid Air Force transition to greater numbers of 5th-generation aircraft, given the pace at which both Russia and China continue to add 5th-gen stealth aircraft to their forces. The concern among many has been that acquiring large numbers of F-15EXs in place of F-35s might result in the construction of a future force comprised of a large percentage of 4th-generation aircraft potentially ill-equipped to confront major power rivals in the air.
Furthermore, despite the extent of many successful upgrades and service life extension programs which have been pursued with the F-15 and F-16, they are nonetheless still 1980s-era non-stealthy aircraft. The presence of stealth is key here, because regardless of the massive extent to which radar, weapons, sensors and computing have been completely transformed on 4th-Generation aircraft through upgrades, a non-stealthy plane may have little opportunity to complete with a stealthy enemy 5th-generation fighter such as a Chinese J-20 or Russian Su-57.
