Sheri Biggs said the Air Force fighter fleet is shrinking to a dangerous level and led a bipartisan letter urging Congress to buy no fewer than 72 fighters per year in FY27. The letter presses lawmakers to use the FY27 defense bills to stop the force from thinning further as the service’s inventory keeps under pressure.
Sheri Biggs and FY27
Biggs said, "The current demand signal for US air power abroad is not sustainable without significantly growing the force." She also said, "The Air Force fighter fleet is now the oldest and smallest in the service’s 78-year history."
Her letter was signed by Representatives Don Bacon, Donald Davis, Russell Fry, Clay Higgins, Dusty Johnson, Nancy Mace, Ralph Norman, August Pfluger, Pete Stauber, Chris Smith, William Timmons and Joe Wilson. It asks Congress to support multiyear procurement authority for the F-35A and the F-15EX, maintain at least 57 combat-coded fighter squadrons, and improve reporting on fighter recapitalization across the Active, Guard and Reserve components.
Air Force fighter inventory
The Air Force’s fiscal 2027 budget request would buy 62 fighters, including 38 F-35As and 24 F-15EXs. Biggs and the other lawmakers want that level lifted to at least 72 per year, with the letter also calling for scaling fighter procurement above 100 fighters per year as industry allows.
The fleet has already fallen below the congressionally mandated floor of 1,145 aircraft, and the fighter inventory is projected to reach its lowest point in fiscal year 2028. Legacy fighter aircraft have been divested at roughly a two-to-one ratio compared with the procurement of new fighters, so each year of slower buying keeps the force smaller when aircraft are retired before replacements arrive.
Congress and fighter purchases
That leaves Congress with a direct budget choice in FY27: accept the Air Force request for 62 fighters, or write defense bills that fund at least 72 and give the service more room to rebuild the fleet. The letter also ties procurement to the industrial base, saying buying above 100 fighters per year should follow as capacity allows.
For readers tracking the force size, the practical issue is not abstract modernization. Fewer fighters mean fewer tails during maintenance cycles and fewer aircraft available for the missions Biggs described, from deterrence to homeland defense. Congress will decide whether the FY27 bills keep the fleet shrinking or slow the loss of aircraft.
