WASHINGTON — If the Air Force gets its way, it will get rid of more than 300 legacy aircraft next year.
In its $185.1 billion Fiscal Year 2024 budget, the Air Force has requested to divest a total of 310 aircraft.
Among the planes on the chopping block are 32 F-22 Raptors, which the service says are not combat certified, and 57 F-15C and D Eagles.
Air Force leaders on Thursday told the House Armed Services Committee that the savings would go to research, development, testing and evaluation for future platforms.
They said hard choices must be made.
"Often, these choices are between current capability, readiness and future capabilities," said General Charles Brown, USAF Chief of Staff. "Our message this year has not changed. The Air Force must modernize to counter strategic competition while balancing risk by divesting platforms and capabilities that have decreasing relevance against pacing challenges."
Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall III agreed. He said: "We ask for Congress' continued support for this and other identified challenges we must make to fill the forces we need to be successful against our pacing and other challenges.
The committee's chairman Rep Mike Roger (R-Alabama) supported the concept generally.
But he added: "We should also ask tough questions about how much risk we're absorbing and for how long, because the fact is, many of these advanced technologies are a decade away."
On a more positive note, if the Air Force budget request is enacted as proposed, airmen would see a 5.2% pay raise, the largest in years, plus an estimated 4.2% increase in their housing allowance.