The U.S. Air Force has a $14 billion hole in supply for aircraft parts, affecting how the service acquires parts and looks at sustainment funding, service leaders said Wednesday.
As the force grapples with supply chain and maintenance issues as well as long aircraft service lives, sustainment funding is becoming increasingly necessary to bridge the gap, service officials said in a panel at the Air & Space Forces Association’s 2026 Air, Space & Cyber Conference.
“If I can throw a number out there right now, we have a $14 billion hole in supply,” Commander of Air Force Materiel Command Lt. Gen. Linda Hurry said during a panel titled “Flying and Fixing to Fight and Win.”
“Let that sink in for a minute,” she continued. “I know we’re not going to get it all at once, but when we get it, we’re going to have to execute. We’re going to have to execute smartly so we can move the needle.”
Hurry said that the service is managing the fleet more globally through partnerships, looking at parts with the Defense Logistics Agency and individual pieces that the force can get from the depot back in the field.
“From a supply perspective, our increase in the supply rate, or the number of aircraft that are down from a supply perspective, has increased 87% over the last seven years,” Hurry said.
On average, around 53% of the force’s fleet is over 30 years old, with 55% of the fleet over its “useful” service life, she said.
Hurry added that the force is working to receive additional funding for spare parts through advocating for the budget request to pass. In the fiscal year 2027 budget, the Department of the Air Force requested a record $338.8 billion, with $4.2 billion allotted for the Consolidated Sustainment Activity Group, or CSAG, that manages spare parts and maintenance backlogs, according to budget documents.
“But once we get even a penny, we have to be ready to execute it,” Hurry said.
Hurry also said that the service is striving to improve its “forecasting accuracy” to better understand where the needs are and where to position those assets globally by using artificial intelligence models and additive manufacturing.
On top of those measures, the service is putting long-term contracts in place that build stability in the collective supply chain and multiple sources of supply.
“Gone are the days of monopolies; we can’t just have one person producing the one critical part,” she said. “I need five [industry partners] producing them because if we get down to the crunch, we’re going to have to have a healthy shelf so that we can fight globally.”
The officials touted the North Star Readiness Campaign, which is meant to increase the number of mission-capable B-52 Stratofortress and B-1 Lancer aircraft by accelerating the delivery of parts, engineering support and depot maintenance.
The campaign has been the “number one driver” of improving readiness in the bomber fleet because of the supply increase the force has received, Gen. Stephen L. Davis, commander of the Air Force Global Strike Command, said during the panel.
Specifically, Davis said that the campaign has increased B-52 readiness by 40%.
“As a commander, you don’t want everything to be a money problem to solve it, but this I think is a money problem,” he said. “We need more money for parts. It’s absolutely the case.”
Cristina Stassis is a reporter covering stories surrounding the defense industry, national security, military/veteran affairs and more. She previously worked as an editorial fellow for Defense News in 2024 where she assisted the newsroom in breaking news across Sightline Media Group.