The force aims to have the entire fleet retired by the early 2030s. That would leave the service with 44 B-1s. The Air Force has also decided to retire one B-1B Lancer bomber that suffered an engine fire in April 2022, rather than try to repair it. The Air Force also wants to retire 37 HH-60G Pave Hawk combat rescue helicopters, which are being replaced by HH-60W Jolly Green II helicopters made by Sikorsky and Lockheed Martin 52 T-1 Jayhawk twin-engine jet trainers. It would also retire the last three E-8 Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System, or JSTARS. The budget calls for retiring the final 24 KC-10 Extender refueling tankers and the remaining 48 Block 1 MQ-9 Reapers. Greiner said the increased spending on E-7 would allow the Air Force to procure a second rapid prototype aircraft. The budget also proposes adding $254 million to continue rapid prototyping work on the Boeing E-7A, set to replace the aging E-3 Sentry airborne warning and control system aircraft, which would bring its FY24 funding to $681 million. “It’s a question of making the transition as smooth as possible, freeing up the resources, starting to retrain the people, and then move them over with a minimal operational impact from taking down,” he said. Retiring about half the current E-3 fleet will make available spare parts and other resources the Air Force can use to keep the remaining AWACS fleet in the air, Kendall added, so it can meet critical requirements such as NORAD’s air defense mission. The Air Force proposed retiring two more AWACS as part of its fiscal 2024 budget, as it prepares to bring on a fleet of Boeing E-7A aircraft to replace them. An E-3 Sentry airborne early warning and control system aircraft prepares to participate in Operation Noble Defender at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, Jan.
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