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US Air Force pursues major aircraft retirements in 2024 – By Stephen Losey (Military Times) / Mar 13, 2023
WASHINGTON — The Air Force wants to retire 310 aircraft, including 42 A-10 Warthogs, as part of its fiscal 2024 budget to free up money for its modernization programs.
The proposed FY24 budget calls for buying 72 fighters — 48 Lockheed Martin-made F-35As and 24 Boeing F-15EX Eagle IIs — and spending more on the Northrop Grumman B-21 Raider stealth bomber, the Boeing E-7A battle management and command-and-control aircraft, the Northrop Grumman-made next-generation nuclear missile known as the Sentinel, and the network of drone wingmen the Air Force calls collaborative combat aircraft, meant to eventually fly alongside crewed fighters.
The Department of the Air Force is requesting $215.1 billion in 2024, $9.3 billion, or 4.5%, over the amount enacted for fiscal 2023. That includes a proposed budget of $185.1 billion for the Air Force itself, up $5.4 billion from 2023, and $30 billion for the Space Force, up $3.9 billion increase from 2023.
Nearly $5 billion of that total budget growth would go to research, development test and evaluation spending, bringing that section’s funding up to $55.4 billion in 2024.
