Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne told defense reporters in Washington Tuesday that new budget cuts probably mean the average age of USAF aircraft, now at 24 years, will continue to climb. Wynne said, “I wanted it to be 20, 21” years at the end of the decade, but he acknowledged it would be likely for the real number to inch up to 25 years by then.
The rate of building B-21 bombers would speed up if the fiscal 2026 defense budget passes. But it remains unclear how much capacity would be added, and whether the Air Force would simply build the bombers faster, or buy more.