The U.S. Air Force Has 32 Non-Combat-Worthy F-22 Raptors That Can't Retire
In the Pentagon's Fiscal Year 2025 budget request, the U.S. Air Force sought to retire 250 aging aircraft, including 32 non-combat-worthy F-22 Raptors, aiming to save $2 billion. However, the House Armed Services Committee (HASC) blocked the retirement of these fifth-generation fighters, arguing their relevance for future conflicts.
Summary: In the Pentagon's Fiscal Year 2025 budget request, the U.S. Air Force sought to retire 250 aging aircraft, including 32 non-combat-worthy F-22 Raptors, aiming to save $2 billion. However, the House Armed Services Committee (HASC) blocked the retirement of these fifth-generation fighters, arguing their relevance for future conflicts.
Key Points
-While the committee approved the retirement of 56 A-10 Thunderbolt II aircraft, they paused the retirement of 26 F-15E Strike Eagles pending further study.
-Additionally, the budget will include funds to purchase more F-15EXs, ensuring Boeing's St. Louis production line remains active. This decision highlights the ongoing debate over balancing cost savings and military readiness.
Retirement Delayed: Lawmakers Refuse to Retire F-22 Raptors in FY25
There is a longstanding belief that the United States military always asks for more than lawmakers are willing to fund, but in recent years, the opposite has been true. This is certainly the case with the Pentagon's Fiscal Year budget request for 2025. The United States Air Force had sought permission to divest around 250 aging aircraft, shrinking its total fleet to below 5,000 aircraft.
That included 32 "non-combat-worthy" Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptors.
However, lawmakers on the House Armed Services Committee have refused to allow the air service to clip the claws of the Raptors in its proposed Fiscal Year 2025 (FY25) National Defensive Authorization Act (NDAA) draft. While the HASC will allow the service to retire fifty-six A-10 Thunderbolt II ground-attack aircraft, it will require the Air Force to maintain the thirty-two Block 20 F-22s that were on the chopping block.
The Air Force had said the service could save as much as $2 billion by retiring those aircraft.
History Repeating Itself
This is not the first time that Air Force officials have sought to divest the fifth-generation air superiority fighters from the fleet. In 2023, the service proposed retiring the Block 20 aircraft, which it argued were designed for training purposes and would be too expensive to make combat-capable.
Lawmakers on the committee believe the F-22s are still relevant for a future conflict.
The NDAA also put on pause the Air Force's plan to retire twenty-six F-15E Strike Eagles, which the service warned are equipped with less effective engines. Lawmakers have said that the jets may not be retired until at least six months after the Pentagon submits a study showing how many fighters the Air Force would need to meet geographical combatant commanders' requirements. The FASC had suggested that despite their age and capabilities, the F-15Es would be needed if the U.S. found itself in a war with China later this decade.
Not So Deep Cuts
The NDAA will allow the Air Force to retire the aforementioned A-10s, as well as sixty-five F-15C/D Eagle fighters, and eleven of the oldest F-16 Fighting Falcons.
The service had been fighting for years to retire the A-10 – also known as the Warthog – for years, arguing that the aircraft would be too vulnerable in a fight against a near-peer adversary. There have been calls to send the retired A-10s to Ukraine, while another U.S. ally has expressed interest in the close air support (CAS) aircraft.
One other aircraft that will be retired was a B-2 Spirit bomber that was damaged beyond economical repair – reducing the B-2 fleet to just 19 aircraft.
More F-15EXs
The NDAA would also add $271 million back to the budget, Yahoo News reported, with the money going to buy an additional two dozen F-15EXs in 2026. That could increase the Air Forces fleet of the upgraded F-15 to 122 – up from the recent plan of 98 aircraft but fewer than the original 144 that the air service had originally sought to acquire.
That would also be good news for Boeing, as it could keep its St. Louis production line running a bit longer.
Author Experience and Expertise: Peter Suciu
Peter Suciu is a Michigan-based writer. He has contributed to more than four dozen magazines, newspapers, and websites with over 3,200 published pieces over a twenty-year career in journalism. He regularly writes about military hardware, firearms history, cybersecurity, politics, and international affairs. Peter is also a Contributing Writer for Forbes and Clearance Jobs. You can follow him on Twitter: @PeterSuciu. You can email the author: [email protected].
