Reps. Don Bacon (R-Neb.), Doug Lamborn (R-Colo.), C.A. “Dutch” Ruppersberger (D-Md.), Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.), Jason Crow (D-Colo.), and John James (R-Mich.) have introduced a measure to sustain Air National Guard (ANG) fighter squadron force structure at the present level of 25 in 22 states.
Bacon, Lamborn, and Slotkin are members of the House Armed Services Committee, and Ruppersberger serves on the House Appropriations Committee’s defense subcommittee.
On May 17, the legislators said that they’ve introduced H.R. 3392, the Fighter Force Preservation and Recapitalization Act.
“This laws prevents the closure of Air National Guard fighter squadrons at a time when pilot and maintenance manning are at critically low levels,” the lawmakers said. “The Air National Guard represents 30 percent of the Air Force fighter force and is answerable for 94 percent of homeland defense missions. On average, the pilots and maintainers are twice as experienced as their lively duty counterparts. The Air Force must retain these invaluable servicemembers because it seeks to divest legacy equipment, which is predominately present in the Air National Guard.”
Congressional appropriators said last 12 months that a planned Air Force reduction in its total buy of Boeing [BA] F-15EX fighters from 144 to 80 “leaves doubtful the status and way forward for F-l5C/D units, several of that are housed within the Air National Guard” (, Dec. 20, 2022).
‘The Air National Guard isn’t any longer the strategic reserve of the Nineteen Eighties and Nineties,” Bacon said within the lawmakers’ May 17 statement on the brand new bill.“These units deploy globally to fulfill combatant commander requirements while concurrently defending the homeland. We must ensure crucial a part of our fighter force – the Airmen — are retained as fighter recapitalization decisions are made. Every pilot and aircraft maintainer matters, and our nation simply cannot afford continued loss of those highly trained personnel.”
