The Air National Guard has been “clearly … overused,” Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee said Tuesday. Speaking with the Defense Writers Group in Washington, D. C., Levin said he hasn’t had a chance to give the future shape of the Air Guard “the rethinking it deserves,” if indeed it does need a fresh look. However, if the Air Guard is to continue to be used in the way it has been—as an operational force rather than as a strategic reserve—then “it’s got to be recapitalized,” Levin said. “If for whatever reason a decision is made to continue to rely on it to the extent that we have, then we’ve got to provide it with the equipment that [has] been a necessary part of that use,” he said. Air Guard chief Lt. Gen. Harry Wyatt told the Senate Appropriation defense subcommittee last week that buying new generation 4.5 fighters—rather than F-22s or F-35s—to keep the Air Guard in the air sovereignty mission is an option on the table. The Government Accountability Office recently released a report saying the Air Guard will have to give up its F-16s to retirement before replacements in the form of F-35s begin arriving.
The rate of building B-21 bombers would speed up if the fiscal 2026 defense budget passes. But it remains unclear how much capacity would be added, and whether the Air Force would simply build the bombers faster, or buy more.
