Senators push 200 new F-15EX fighter jets in bipartisan bill

A bipartisan group of U.S. senators introduced a sweeping three-bill legislative package on April 22, 2026, aimed at expanding American fighter aircraft production, retaining experienced military pilots, and reversing what the lawmakers describe as a dangerous erosion of U.S. air superiority.

The package, led by Senators Ted Budd (R-N.C.) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), both members of the Senate Armed Services Committee, bundles three separate pieces of legislation: the Airpower Acceleration Act, the Retention Enhancements for Tactical Aircrew Initiative Act — known as the RETAIN Act — and the Fighter Aircrew Career Flexibility Act. Senators Angus King (I-Maine), Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.), Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), and Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) co-sponsored the full package. Additional co-sponsors joined individual bills within the package.

The Airpower Acceleration Act is the production-focused centerpiece. It authorizes multi-year procurement for both the F-15EX and F-35 aircraft, mandates a minimum fighter inventory floor of 1,369 aircraft by 2030 rising to 1,558 by 2035, and — most significantly — authorizes the Air Force to procure an additional 200 F-15EX jets to recapitalize the aging F-15E fleet. The bill frames that buy explicitly as a recapitalization effort, replacing older Strike Eagles with the newest variant of the platform rather than simply adding to total fleet numbers.

It allows the Air Force to commit to purchases across multiple budget years rather than negotiating contracts annually, which gives manufacturers the production stability to invest in their lines, reduce per-unit costs, and sustain workforce capacity. Without multi-year authority, the defense industrial base faces stop-start demand signals that drive up prices and erode production efficiency — exactly the dynamic the bill’s sponsors say they are trying to fix.

The RETAIN Act tackles a separate but equally pressing problem: the Air Force is losing experienced pilots faster than it can replace them. The bill targets mid-career aviators — the experienced combat pilots who form the institutional backbone of any air force — with a package of financial and non-financial incentives designed to make staying in uniform more attractive than leaving for commercial airlines or the private sector. It requires the Secretary of the Air Force to pay the maximum Aviation Incentive Pay authorization to eligible officers with more than eight years of service. It mandates that bonus contract lengths and monetary incentives for the Active Component match, at minimum, those available to the Reserve Component. It also increases the maximum Aviation Bonus authorization to match a 2019 RAND Corporation recommendation on aviator retention. On the non-monetary side, the bill requires the Air Force to offer assignment preferences, remote work options for non-flying staff assignments, and the ability to transition to non-combat aviation career paths.

Senator Tim Sheehy (R-Mont.) and Senator Tim Kaine (D-Va.) each co-sponsored portions of the package. Senator Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) co-sponsored the RETAIN Act. Kaine’s statement pointed directly at the retention problem the bill addresses: over the past decade, mid-career pilots have increasingly left active duty for better compensation in the commercial airline industry. “There is no air force in the world that can do what the United States Air Force does,” Kaine said. “But in order to maintain this superiority, we need to make sure we are retaining our best aviators.”

The third bill, the Fighter Aircrew Career Flexibility Act, takes a narrower but practically important approach. It establishes a one-time career intermission program for eligible Air Force fighter aircrew — pilots and Weapon Systems Officers — allowing breaks ranging from four months to one year. Crucially, aviators who take the intermission can spend that time in the civilian workforce and still return to active duty. The program’s stated purpose is to reduce the number of fighter aircrew separating from active service by giving them a pressure valve: a structured way to step away temporarily without permanently closing the door on their military career.

Senator Budd was direct: “We cannot afford to fall behind China.” Senator Shaheen framed it as a question of whether the administration’s stated position — that China represents the pacing challenge to U.S. national security — is matched by actual investment in the platforms and people needed to compete. That framing is not incidental. The argument driving the legislation is that air superiority is not guaranteed, that the current trajectory of fleet size and pilot retention is heading in the wrong direction, and that congressional action is needed to reverse it.

The F-15EX is Boeing’s most advanced version of the F-15 airframe, featuring an entirely new digital cockpit, fly-by-wire flight controls, an advanced electronic warfare suite, and the ability to carry a heavier and more varied weapons load than any previous F-15 variant. It is designed to serve alongside fifth-generation fighters like the F-35 rather than replace them, filling roles that benefit from large payload capacity and long range. The Air Force has been procuring F-15EXs to replace aging F-15C/D air superiority jets and older F-15E Strike Eagles, but the pace of that recapitalization has been a persistent point of contention between the service, Congress, and the industrial base.

Setting a statutory floor on fighter inventory — 1,369 aircraft by 2030 and 1,558 by 2035 — is a direct legislative intervention in force structure decisions that have traditionally been the domain of the executive branch and the service itself. If enacted, it would remove the flexibility to draw down the fighter fleet below those numbers regardless of budget pressures.