<p >The U.S. Department of Defence has cut its request for new F-35A fighters for the U.S. Air Force by 50 percent from 48 to just 24 fighters for Fiscal Year 2026, according to multiple reports from local media outlets, raising significant questions regarding the future of the program. The reduction follows steady cuts to the Air Force’s annual F-35A procurement plans over more than a decade from 110, to 80, 60 and finally 48 fighters. The proposed cuts have occurred amid a growing crisis in the Air Force over its budget, in particular due to the immense development, procurement and operational costs of the new <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/boeing-unprecedented-investments-f47" target="_blank">F-47 sixth generation fighter</a> which analysts have widely concluded are unaffordable without deep cuts being made. The U.S. Department of Defence is reportedly considering <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/why-navy-faxx-sixth-generation-defunded-finance-f47" >cutting funding</a> for the U.S. Navy own sixth generation fighter program the&nbsp;<a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/delays-contact-award-many-sixthgen" >F/A-XX </a>to reallocate funds to the F-47. Reducing procurements of the F-35 would not only result in significant savings on procurement costs, but would also avoid spending on operational costs, with the fighter being significantly <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/f35-sustainment-costs-44pct-controversy" >more expensive to sustain</a> than the F-16s and A-10s it is being acquired by the Air Force to replace.&nbsp;A significant portion of these funds could potentially be re-invested in the F-47.</p><p ><img src="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/m/articles/2025/06/11/article_6849506257d701_80935252.png" title="Chinese Sixth Generation Long Range Fighter Prototype"></p><p >As the F-35’s cost effectiveness has increasingly been brought to question when compared to the next generation F-47, particularly for high intensity operations in the Pacific for which the newer aircraft is expected to be significantly better suited, a further important factor which may be affecting the decision to deeply cut procurements is the aircraft’s increasingly questionable viability as China approaches operationalisation of its first sixth generation fighters. China’s&nbsp;<a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/china-unveiled-stealthiest-fighter-sixth-generation" >unveiling</a>&nbsp;of two new&nbsp;<a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/worlds-largest-fighter-plane-china-ultra-long-range-sixth-gen" >sixth generation fighters</a>&nbsp;in December 2024 already at flight prototype stages raised serious concerns regarding America’s future capability to wage an air campaign in the Pacific,&nbsp;and raised the prospects of the F-35 fleet being left a generation behind the most capable fighters in the theatre. The unveiling of the new Chinese fighters was notably <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/chinese-sixth-generation-cut-pentagon-demand-f35s-lockheed" >quick to affect</a> the stock price of the F-35’s primary contractor Lockheed Martin specifically for this reason. Deep cuts to F-35A procurements to equip the U.S. Air Force would allow a greater proportion of the fighter’s production capacity to be allocated to supplying foreign clients. It would also cause difficulties for the Air Force, however, as the service would be forced to further extent the planned service lives of its fleets of Cold War era F-15s, F-16s and A-10s. With the future of the F-35 program remaining highly uncertain, the possibility of future orders remains closely tied to how both American and Chinese sixth generation fighter programs proceed.</p>
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