:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/archetype/3TBERUYWQZHZHBAHMAERMXC5F4.jpg "US Air Force wish list asks for spare parts, but no more fighters")
US Air Force wish list asks for spare parts, but no more fighters
The U.S. Air Force’s $3.5 billion budgetary wish list for fiscal 2025 includes more funds for spare parts to get grounded planes back in the air, and seeks resources to be able to deploy more personnel and fighter jets.
The unfunded priorities list the service submitted to Congress, dated March 21, asks for another $1.5 billion to restock spare parts; $612 million to create nine new deployable units called mission generation force elements; $1.1 billion for construction projects worldwide; and $266 million to fund exercises in the Pacific region.
The Air Force did not ask Congress for additional funds to buy more aircraft, as it sometimes has in previous years’ unfunded priorities lists. The service’s $188.1 billion budget request for FY25 trims six F-35A Joint Strike Fighters and six F-15EX Eagle II fighters from what it originally planned, and the wish list does not aim to change that.
In the unfunded priorities list, the Air Force said its additional $1.5 billion request for spare parts — the largest component in the list — is necessary because the tight budget environment prevented it from asking for all the parts it needed.
