Congress Pushes Back on Air Force Retirement Plans for Older F-22 Raptors

The U.S. Air Force said it wanted to start retiring older F-22 Raptors in the coming budget year, but Congress has other plans.

Kimberly Johnson

Thursday, June 30, 2022 at 01:07 PM ET

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"The nation has far too few fifth-generation fighters given global demand," said Douglas Birkey of the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies. [Courtesy: U.S. Air Force/Lt. Sam Eckholm]

Key Takeaways:

The U.S. Air Force proposed retiring 33 F-22 Block 20 training jets in fiscal year 2023 to reallocate funds towards other F-22 upgrades and F-35A modernization.
Both the House and Senate Armed Services Committees are opposing this plan, seeking to require the Air Force to maintain and upgrade the F-22 fleet to combat-ready status, or at least provide a detailed plan for maintaining readiness.
Congressional and expert concerns stem from the nation's insufficient number of fifth-generation fighters, the aging existing fleet, and delays in future air dominance programs, making the full F-22 fleet essential for meeting air superiority requirements.

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The U.S. Air Force’s plans to retire aging F-22 Raptors in fiscal 2023 aren’t flying with some members of Congress, who want to force the service to keep and upgrade all of the stealth fighter airframes to combat-ready status.

In the $773 billion Department of Defense fiscal year 2023 budget submitted to Congress, the Air Force proposed retiring 33 Block 20 fighter jets currently used for training and non-combat operations, culling its F-22 fleet of fewer than 190 airframes by 33.