The National Guard’s budgetary wish list would restore the dozen fighter jets the U.S. Air Force trimmed in its original fiscal 2025 request, and allow for the purchase of all F-15EXs originally planned for procurement.
The nearly $2.7 billion unfunded priorities list the Guard submitted to Congress asks for another $690 million to buy six more F-15EX Eagle IIs, and another $660 million for six more F-35A Joint Strike Fighters.
The Air Force earlier this month released a proposed budget that called for buying 42 F-35As from Lockheed Martin and 18 F-15EXs from Boeing, a reduction of six each from what the service had originally projected it would buy.
Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said before the budget release the service had to make some hard choices to fit within the spending caps set by the Fiscal Responsibility Act that Congress passed last year.
The Guard said the additional Eagle II fighters would let it finish building a fleet of three combat squadrons that fly F-15EXs and would maximize the defense-industrial base’s output of these jets.
The Air National Guard also wants another $52 million to give its pilots about 4,600 more flying hours, along with additional funding for 803 more recruiters, civil engineers, security forces, and maintainers.
