Air Force’s top general: Supplemental funding needed to replace US aircraft lost in Iran

Photo: Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Ken Wilsbach listens to opening comments during a budget hearing with the House Appropriations Defense Subcommittee on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., April 30, 2026. Photo credit: U.S. Air Force photo by Eric Dietrich via DVIDS. Public Domain. Article by Thomas Novelly. Defense One – April 30, 2026.

The 2027 budget request was made before dozens of aircraft were destroyed during Epic Fury.

Replacing the dozens of U.S. aircraft that have been damaged or destroyed in the Iran war will require more money than the staggering $1.5 trillion defense budget, the Air Force’s top general said. Air Force Gen. Kenneth Wilsbach, the service’s top uniformed leader, told House lawmakers Thursday that the historic defense budget is focused on buying more fighters, bombers, and tankers for the service’s fleet. Those losses in Iran have made additional funding from Congress outside the 13-figure budget request necessary, he said during a defense appropriations subcommittee hearing. […]

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