USAF says it requires 74 additional combat squadrons

U.S. Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson and chief of staff Gen. David Goldfein has unveiled an initiative, titled “The Air Force We Need,” on Sept. 17.

F-15 and F-22
By U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Ben Bloker [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

The new strategy calls for the service to gain 74 combat squadrons in order to deal with threats from China and Russia.

“The Air Force is too small for what the nation is asking us to do,” Wilson said. “We have 312 squadrons today. Our analysis says that we need 386.”

She added that five more bomber squadrons are needed, there are now nine.

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