The Air Force now plans to buy a total of 267 F-15EX Eagle II fighter jets in the coming years, more than doubling previous projections of the fleet.
The procurement shift: 267 F-15EX and FY27 buys
The Air Force’s fiscal 2027 budget, revealed at the Pentagon, requests 24 F-15EXs for FY27 and envisions an eventual total buy of 267 aircraft, up from a previously planned 129. The service described the additional purchases as necessary to build out F-15EX units and “begin to recapitalize the aging F-15E fleet,” an Air Force spokesperson told Breaking Defense. Boeing, the F-15 maker, declined to comment on the enlarged plan.
The extended production run means the service “can count on hot production lines for at least two fighters in the foreseeable future — the other being the F-35.” FY27 budget documents also show the Air Force requesting 38 F-35As for FY27, compared with 24 F-35As requested in the FY26 budget.
Budget context: FY27 topline, procurement, and R&D
Compared with final FY26 levels, the Air Force expects its overall budget to rise roughly 25 percent to $267.7 billion in FY27, according to figures shared at the Pentagon press briefing. Those totals include reconciliation dollars the Defense Department is requesting alongside the base budget and exclude non-blue or “passthrough” spending that technically goes to agencies outside the Pentagon.
Within that topline the Air Force expects procurement to increase by roughly 30 percent and research and development by 27 percent. The service said it is moving beyond prior trade-offs: “FY 2027 moves beyond the trade-off between modernization and readiness,” Air Force Secretary Troy Meink was quoted as saying in the Department of the Air Force’s budget presentation.
Sustainment and flying hours: more resources for readiness
The FY27 request shows concrete increases in key readiness accounts. The flying hour program would rise by nearly $1.8 billion to a total of $9.9 billion. Weapon system sustainment would grow by $3 billion to $22.6 billion.
Officials framed those increases as operationally significant. The added sustainment investment, Maj. Gen. Frank Verdugo, the Air Force’s deputy assistant secretary for budget, said, “directly increases the availability of US Air Force spares, which means faster repairs and results in more time in the air for our pilots.”
Divestments, the A-10, and force structure shifts
Like prior budgets, the FY27 request asks permission to scrap a range of aging aircraft. The Air Force spokesperson provided a list of proposed divestments for FY27:
- 23 U-2s
- 20 KC-135s
- 16 C-130Hs
- 49 A-10s
- 20 F-15Es
- 6 F-16s
- 14 T-6s
- 1 T-38
But the A-10 story took an unexpected turn. The Air Force spokesperson said the service “is extending some A-10s until 2030 to preserve combat power until the Defense Industrial Base ramps up combat aircraft production.” Specifically, one active-duty squadron at Moody Air Force Base will operate until 2029, another at Moody will be extended until 2030, and a reserve squadron at Whiteman will operate until 2030; squadrons are expected to have roughly 18 aircraft. The move followed recent combat use of the Warthog “in Iran, where one was reportedly lost to enemy fire,” the budget materials noted. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth posted on X, “Long live the Warthog.”
Advanced Tanker Systems, NGAS, and the E-7 program
The FY27 budget creates a new funding line for air refueling labeled Advanced Tanker Systems. The Air Force spokesperson said funds were moved into the new program from a previous line that supported research on the Next Generation Air-refueling System (NGAS), a shift that “concentrate[s] on mission systems versus platforms.” Officials continue to study options under an analysis of alternatives for an NGAS aircraft “that will enable resilience and persistence of aerial refueling in a future, highly contested conflict,” the spokesperson added.
On the E-7 Wedgetail radar plane, the FY27 budget does not include procurement funding, but officials are “evaluating options to resource the E-7 program in FY 2027 to deliver Rapid Prototyping aircraft and continue engineering and manufacturing development activities.” The materials note that last year the Air Force attempted to end the E-7 program, but lawmakers rejected that move and directed the service “to continue development and transition to an engineering and manufacturing development phase.” The spokesperson said the aircraft acquired for the EMD phase will allow the Air Force “to mature the system design, conduct risk reduction, and perform comprehensive test and verification activities in accordance with Congressional intent.”
What this means for Boeing, lawmakers, and the Defense Industrial Base
- Boeing: A potential multi-hundred-aircraft procurement run preserves a steady production cadence for the F-15EX, but Boeing “declined to comment” on the larger plan, leaving the company’s official posture unreported in the budget release.
- Lawmakers and Congress: The budget assumes congressional acceptance of divestments and program shifts, but the record cited in the materials shows lawmakers can and have rejected Air Force decisions — for example, on the E-7 — a dynamic that will shape whether proposed retirements and funding reallocations go forward.
- Defense Industrial Base: The Air Force explicitly tied A-10 extensions to industrial capacity, saying extensions preserve combat power “until the Defense Industrial Base ramps up combat aircraft production,” and emphasized that larger procurement buys support sustained production lines for both the F-15EX and the F-35.
The FY27 request signals a clear choice by the Air Force: use a larger topline to avoid past trade-offs between modernization and readiness. Whether Congress accepts the proposed divestments, how industry responds to the longer F-15EX run, and how tanker and radar programs are resourced will determine whether the planned fleet and sustainment changes take hold.
