Increase F-35A procurement to 60–80 aircraft per year

Research notes

The instrument for this ask is an authorization and appropriation quantity, so the enacted authorization table is the right place to test it, and it was read line by line.

• Neither P.L. 119-60 nor P.L. 119-75 states aircraft quantities in its text; the finding here is the dollar figure, which is unchanged from the request. A rate of 60-80 F-35A per year would require roughly triple the enacted Aircraft Procurement, Air Force F-35 line.
• The quantities can be read (2026-09-03). It had been assumed the budget justification books were unreachable because media.defense.gov refused automated reads and www.saffm.hq.af.mil does not resolve. The exhibits are published on comptroller.war.gov (the successor to comptroller.defense.gov) and open to even a bare request: the FY 2027 P-1, the Program Acquisition Costs by Weapon System book and the FY 2027 Budget Request Overview Book were all downloaded and extracted as text. This is the source for every Defense quantity question in the chapter, and it also answers #207, #209, #213 and #262. The FY 2027 Program Acquisition Costs by Weapon System book confirms the same figures in service-split form: FY2026 enacted USN/USMC 23 and USAF 24, 47 across all variants against 70 in FY2025.
• Dating: the P-1 carries no publication date in its body. Its cover reads “April 2026” and the PDF was created 2026-04-02, which is the date used above; the weapons book states “Generated on 2026Apr21” and the overview book “Generated on 2026Apr20”. Dating the fact — FY2026 enacted — to the appropriation would be wrong, so each exhibit is dated as the exhibit.
• P.L. 119-60 sec. 342 (Joint Strike Fighter sustainment) sets 90-day wartime spares and readiness targets for the existing fleet by 2028 - sustainment of what exists, not an increase in the buy, so it is not counted here (progress is measured on this ask, not on an adjacent one).

FY2027 NDAA, House-passed (reviewed 2026-09-24). H.R. 8800 passed the House 216–212 on 2026-07-22 (Roll no. 278) and was received in the Senate on 2026-09-14. Engrossed text: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/BILLS-119hr8800eh/html/BILLS-119hr8800eh.htm. The House funding table (Division D) authorizes Aircraft Procurement, Air Force, line 003 (F-35) at $2,393,723,000 and line 004 (F-35 advance procurement) at $738,103,000, both exactly the request, with no quantity add. The only F-35A adjustment is $300,000,000 more for initial spares. Sec. 162 grants multiyear procurement authority for F-35 aircraft from the FY2027 program year, conditioned on 5 percent savings and a readiness report. That is contracting authority, not a higher annual rate. The item stays not started.