The Committee Defense Review report (see above), released Wednesday by the House Armed Services Committee, advocates increasing force structure across the board (force structure table) to ensure the US military can continue to wage a long-duration irregular campaign like the war on terror and conduct two simultaneous conventional campaigns. For the Air Force, the CDR recommends adding five air expeditionary forces to the current 10 AEFs. To equip those five new AEFs, the CDR recommends adding 680 airframes in a mix of fighters, bombers, and tactical airlifters, and 169 strategic airlifters and tankers.
The Air Force is seeking funding to let its pilots fly a little more than 1.1 million hours in fiscal 2027, which would be the most in about four years. But even if Airmen actually do fly all 1.1 million hours, it would still be short of the 1.3 million…