Aerospace

The U.S. Air Force Is Headed for a Crash: Too Many Old Planes, Not Enough Cash

The U.S. Air Force’s planes are old—and getting older. The average Air Force plane is 28 years old, according to the Congressional Budget Office. That means hundreds, if not thousands, of Air Force pilots are flying planes built before they were born.

Replacing huge numbers of aging aircraft with newer models could be very, very expensive—up to $26 billion annually by the mid-2030s.

And that’s before taking into account the flying branch’s ambitious plan to stand up 74 new squadrons.

Barring some radical shift in the cost of new technology, future administrations could face a difficult choice: Either boost Air Force budgets to Cold War levels or higher, or shrink the flying branch to an affordable size.

“Growing the force is going to compete directly with modernizing the force,” Todd Harrison, an analyst with the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C., told Breaking Defense, a trade publication.

Today the Air Force possesses around 5,600 aircraft in 312 squadrons, making it by far the biggest air force in the world.