§9062a. Annual report on Air Force tactical fighter aircraft force structure.¹

(a) In General.-Not later than April 1, 2025, and annually thereafter through 2029, the Secretary of the Air Force, in consultation with the Director of the Air National Guard and the Commander of the Air Force Reserve Command, shall-

(1) develop a 10-year tactical fighter aircraft force structure, recapitalization, training, and sustainment plan for the active and reserve components of the Air Force; and

(2) submit to the congressional defense committees a report on the plan.

(b) Elements of Report.-The report required by subsection (a) shall address each of the following:

(1) The appropriate mix of tactical fighter aircraft, and associated operational risk analyses, required for the Secretary of the Air Force to meet expected steady-state, global force management allocation plans and geographic combatant commander contingency operational plans tasked to the Air Force, using active and reserve component tactical fighter aircraft units.

(2) The procurement, divestment, and unit activation, deactivation, or re-missioning plans or actions the Secretary plans to implement, fiscal year-by-fiscal year, unit-by-unit, for the 10-year period beginning on the date on which the report is submitted, for each active and reserve component tactical fighter aircraft unit existing as of such date of submittal, including the rationale and justification for any such plans or actions.

(3) The actions the Secretary will take to ensure that required operational readiness rates are maintained during any planned recapitalization, modernization, or change of mission affecting tactical fighter aircraft units.

(4) Any plans of the Secretary to augment or supplant existing piloted tactical fighter aircraft capability or capacity with collaborative combat aircraft increment 1 or increment 2 capability or capacity.

(5) Any plans of the Secretary to augment or supplant existing piloted tactical fighter aircraft training events through the acquisition and fielding of common, joint, all-domain, high-fidelity synthetic simulation environments.

(c) Form of Report.-The report required by subsection (a) shall be submitted in unclassified form with accompanying graphs, tables, and charts, but may contain a classified annex.

(d) Fighter Aircraft Defined.-In this section, the term "fighter aircraft" has the meaning given that term in section 9062(i)(2) of this title.

(Added Pub. L. 118–159, div. A, title I, §142, Dec. 23, 2024, 138 Stat. 1809 .)

¹ So in original. The period probably should not appear.