How Many F22 Raptors Are In Service

The Pentagon has issued its most recent budget asking, enervating a whopping $773 billion in overall funding for the fiscal year 2023. This is well-nigh $31 billion more than than the current fiscal year's total for the Department of Defense.

The proposed defense force budget for Financial Yr 2023 contains a range of major changes to the US Air Force's airpower, including the elimination of 150 aircraft. This covers outdated A-10 Warthogs, F-22 Raptors, T-ane Jayhawks, and KC-135 Stratotankers.

In the planned 2023 budget, the Air Forcefulness would besides procure fewer F-35A fighter jets and HH-60W Jolly Green Two combat rescue helicopters. Furthermore, It would too seek to increase financing for the B-21 Raider bomber, the Side by side Generation Air Potency program (NGAD), and the Airborne Warning and Control System, which would supplant the aging East-3 Sentry.

The proposed budget for the Department of the Air Force, which includes both the Air Force and the Space Force, would jump past over seven% from the $182 billion authorized for 2022 to $194 billion.

The Air Force would receive effectually $169.five billion of that budget. It contains $24.five billion for the Space Force and $40.ii billion in "non-blue" spending, which is billed to the Air Forcefulness but covers classified programs outside the section.

According to Maj. Gen. James Peccia, the Air Force'southward deputy banana Secretary for upkeep, those figures bespeak existent increase of roughly viii% when compared to the Air Force'south request in FY22, and include a projected 2.2 percent inflation charge per unit.

In a March 25 press conference, Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said that the budget demonstrates the "transformation that nosotros're trying to attain" to deal with the shifting security architecture.

Kendall stated that while Russia is even so an "astute concern" and that North korea, Iran, and violent extremist organizations are however a threat, the budget focuses mostly on China and its fast upgrading military as the "pacing challenge." He also stated that the Air Force intends to build the groundwork for more than reforms in the 2024 budget.

Aircraft On Style To The Graveyard

Kendall stated that the Air Force has to make "hard choices" in club to reduce its aircraft armada. "We have to get rid of what I'll call legacy equipment in order to have the resources to modernize," Kendall said.

Bated from the 150 shipping, the list of planes bound for the chopping block includes 119 planes whose retirements were earlier presented to Congress merely not made public, co-ordinate to an Air Force spokesperson.

The 150 aircraft, which were before mentioned, include many shipping types that oasis't previously been divested. That ways the Air Force plans to dispose of 269 planes in FY23, significantly more than the 200 jets it sought to retire last year.

The Air Force is considering retiring some A-x Thunderbolt 2 assault planes over again. The proposed budget for 2023 calls for the Air National Guard to retire 21 A-10s in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and replace them with the same number of F-16s.

Kendall expressed his optimism that the A-10'south retirement will be uncontroversial, but the plane has survived previous fleet reductions. The Air Force wanted to retire 42 A-10s in 2022, but Congress barred them in the National Defence Authorization Human activity, despite permitting all other retirements requested by the service.

Though some accept advocated for moving A-10s to Ukraine, Kendall believes the boxing has indirectly demonstrated how the Warthog is outmoded and destined for retirement. A-10s were initially congenital to smash columns of Russian tanks approaching Europe during the Cold State of war.

According to Kendall, Ukraine's ground-based tactical air defenses accept proven to be extremely successful against Russia, preventing them from gaining air supremacy and conducting aerial operations. While the A-x is powerful, it is also deadening and vulnerable to such defenses.

The Air Force too intends to retire 33 Cake 20 F-22 jets, which, according to Kendall, are primarily utilized for training and aren't gainsay-capable. Maj. Gen. James Peccia, estimated that making the F-22s set up for battle would cost $1.viii billion over viii years, making it incredibly expensive.

Instead, he added, the Air Force will divert $1.5 billion that would have gone toward the F-22s to modify F-35s and modernize existing F-22s. Some of the funding volition besides go toward the NGAD family of systems, according to the Air Forcefulness.

In that location are a total of 186 F-22s in the Air Strength, 36 of which are Cake 20s. If all retirements are authorized, the Raptor fleet volition be reduced to 153 aircraft. Kendall said he doesn't look any more than F-22s to be retired until the NGAD is gear up to accept its place.

According to Kendall, the Air Force plans to transfer 100 of its more than than 300 MQ-9 Reapers to "another regime agency." More often than not, such rhetoric is used to characterize the CIA or other secret government agencies.

The Air Force is also proposing to retire viii of its E-8C JSTARS aircraft that provide data on ground targets to the combined fleet, keeping only four JSTARS in service, which volition retire in FY24.

In addition, the Air Forcefulness plans to retire 15 East-3 Lookout airborne warning and control planes (AWACS) that observe, place, and track airborne targets. The Air Force currently has 31 AWACS planes in its inventory, which will be decommissioned once a successor aircraft is developed.

The Air Forcefulness likewise plans to retire ten older C-130H Hercules cargo planes at Maxwell Air Forcefulness Base in Alabama. The add-on of four new C-130J Super Hercules to the service'due south C-130 fleet will bring the total number of C-130s to 271. The Air Forcefulness plans to buy five MC-139 Grey Wolf helicopters to replace the decommissioned C-130Hs in 2023.

The Air Force also plans to retire 50 of its 177 T-ane Jayhawk twin-engine jet trainers, citing a shift in the service's multi-engine training strategy, according to Kendall.

Procurement Plans

The Air Forcefulness too wants to buy 33 F-35As, down from the 48 it requested final year. Kendall stated that the Air Force reduced its F-35A procurement to free upward funding for the evolution of NGAD, the ongoing development of an upgraded engine for the F-35, and the rapid deployment of the F-15EX.

The budget also includes 15 F-35Bs and iv F-35Cs for the Marine Corps, and ix F-35Cs for the Navy.

The Air Forcefulness seeks $two.vii billion to purchase 24 F-15EX jets in 2023, more than double the number it requested in 2022. Last year, Congress finally gave the Air Strength permission to purchase 17 F-15EX fighter jets.

According to Kendall, adding more than F-15EXs will allow the service to replace anile F-15Cs more swiftly. The F-15EX has a larger weapon load than the F-35, making it ideal for homeland defense and some defensive counter-air missions overseas.

F-15EX and F-15E Strike Hawkeye in the same frame at Eglin Air Force Base of operations – Twitter

Kendall voiced unhappiness with the F-35's contempo progress, saying he wants to come across "real progress being fabricated in the development side" and take Block 4 completed. He pointed out the performance of Technology Refresh 3, a software upgrade for the F-35's calculating systems, every bit "not what we wanted."

Withal, he highlighted that the F-35A would proceed to play an important role in the Air Strength'southward fighter force for many years and that the Air Forcefulness's aim of purchasing 1,763 fighters remains intact.

According to Peccia, the armed forces requested $1.65 billion for the Next Generation Air Authority program, a $133 million increment that primarily funds improved sensors and resilient communications equipment linked with the sixth-generation fighter.

The Air Strength likewise set aside $113 one thousand thousand for "advanced collaborative platforms," which are the Air Force'due south new terminology for "Loyal Wingman" fashion drones that will complement the NGAD and the B-21.

The B-21 Raider program entered the procurement stage this twelvemonth with a $1.7 billion request, notwithstanding, Peccia did say how many stealth bombers would be procured for that amount, as reflecting the program's confidentiality.

The service volition spend $2.8 billion on extra 15 Boeing KC-46 tankers. It will also resume buy of the Boeing MH-139 Greyness Wolf helicopter, which was put on hold in FY22 while the service tried to become the helicopter licensed by the Federal Aviation Administration.