"We’re buying big, expensive things in one-year tranches," Sen. Ted Budd told Breaking Defense.
Sen. Ted Budd and bipartisan three-bill push
Sen. Ted Budd, R‑N.C., and Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D‑N.H., last month introduced a trio of bills aimed at boosting U.S. fighter inventories and improving pilot retention. Budd told Breaking Defense in a May 14 interview he is hopeful the measures will be folded into the fiscal 2027 National Defense Authorization Act rather than brought to the floor as a standalone bill: “I think it will be, [but] you never take anything for granted.”
Airpower Acceleration Act: multiyear buys and inventory mandates
The most consequential legislative vehicle for industry would be the Airpower Acceleration Act. The bill would authorize the Pentagon to purchase F‑15EXs and F‑35s through multiyear contracts and permit advance procurement of key F‑35 and F‑15EX components in economic order quantities. Budd and the bill's language argue that committing to multiyear contracts would reduce the cost per aircraft and provide a stable demand signal to vendors.
Beyond contracting mechanics, the bill also sets explicit inventory targets for the Air Force: it would mandate that the service maintain at least 1,369 combat‑coded fighters by 2030 and 1,558 jets in 2035. The bill would further authorize procurement of 329 F‑15EX aircraft — a figure that would push the F‑15EX program well past the service’s recently announced increase from a planned 129 to 267 aircraft.
Boeing production plans and Air Force testimony
The Air Force is already engaged in conversations with Boeing about ramping F‑15EX production, according to testimony this month. In testimony before the Senate Armed Services airland subcommittee on May 12, Air Force Lt. Gen. Luke Cropsey, the service’s military deputy for acquisitions, said Boeing is “struggling to meet rates they’re currently signed up for.”
Cropsey said there is “an ongoing conversation with Boeing right now about just getting to two [aircraft] a month. They’re not currently at their contracted number for production rate.” He added that Boeing presented Air Force officials “a well thought‑out plan with regards to how to get the existing line to two a month,” and “additional plans” for how to get to three or four aircraft per month.
Budd argued multiyear contracting and a longer procurement horizon could provide the commercial certainty needed for Boeing to invest in expanded capacity, even describing such a step as enabling Boeing to stand up a second production line with capital expenditures that would drive more than an incremental increase in output.
RETAIN Act and Fighter Aircrew Career Flexibility Act: retention tools
The legislative package includes two personnel‑focused bills. The RETAIN Act would increase bonus and incentive pay for experienced pilots. The Fighter Aircrew Career Flexibility Act would establish an Air Force pilot program to allow aviators to take a “career intermission” for up to one year.
On the House side, Rep. August Pfluger, R‑Texas, a former F‑22 pilot, told Breaking Defense on May 15 he plans to champion similar measures. Pfluger said expanding bonuses is a top priority and that career intermissions would be another option to retain experienced aviators. “We are short over 2,000 pilots, and this will help us to triage that decline and get us to a point where we can provide flexibility, but also maintain that end strength,” he said.
What this means for Boeing, the Air Force, and pilots
- Boeing: Multiyear authorization and advance procurement could be the signal needed to justify capital investments such as a second production line; Boeing is currently working with the Air Force on plans to reach two aircraft per month and later three or four.
- The Air Force: The proposed inventory mandates — 1,369 combat‑coded fighters by 2030 and 1,558 by 2035 — would require procurement pacing and sustainment planning beyond the service’s recent shift from 129 to 267 planned F‑15EX buys.
- Pilots and retention managers: Expanded bonuses under the RETAIN Act and a one‑year career intermission under the Fighter Aircrew Career Flexibility Act would be discrete policy tools to address a stated shortfall of “over 2,000 pilots,” according to Rep. Pfluger.
Budd framed the case in practical, taxpayer‑facing terms: buying on one‑year cycles is unfair to taxpayers, to warfighters, and to vendors, he said, and the F‑15EX — which he described as “a combination between a Corvette and a Chevy Suburban” — will be needed in large numbers to replace aging legacy F‑15C/Ds. Whether that argument carries the day will hinge on whether congressional negotiators fold the package into the fiscal 2027 NDAA and whether Boeing can convert planning into sustained production rates that match the proposed procurement tempo.
