Lawmakers are introducing provisions to authorize multiyear contracts to buy the F-15EX Eagle II and the F-35 Lightning II, allowing cost savings and shorter delivery timelines.
The draft 2027 National Defense Authorization (NDAA) released by the House Armed Services Committee (HASC) aims to enable the U.S. armed forces to award multi-year contracts for the F-15EX Eagle II and the F-35 Lightning II, instead of the recurring annual awards. The proposed provisions would help cut costs, better plan for ongoing and prospective spare part needs by streamlining the supply chain, and help the manufacturers to ensure faster deliveries.
The provisions follow other previous developments from the U.S. legislature that seemed to have laid the groundwork for such a procurement route. A 2025 Congressional Research Service (CRS) report concluded that this could result in 5% to 15% savings to the exchequer.
The service recommended in October 2025, prior to the 2026 NDAA and without seeking additional funding, that it ultimately desires 1,558 combat-coded jets, while hoping for higher F-15EX and F-35 production numbers from the industry. The Air Force’s unclassified report, however, also recognized the figures were not feasible owing to various constraints, related to industry, foreign sales, competing equipment needs of the other services, and budget.
Then, in April 2025, the Airpower Acceleration Act by Senators Ted Budd (R-N.C.) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) also proposed a multiyear procurement for F-15EX and F-35 jets, among other things. Its highlight was calling for expanding the current known Eagle II order to 329 aircraft, specifically to use the additional airframes to replace the F-15E Strike Eagle in the 2030s.
The draft NDAA now appears to have incorporated provisions from these smaller defense bills, the Air Force and CRS reports.
2027 draft NDAA
As mentioned earlier, the proposed NDAA primarily covers the F-15EX Eagle II and the F-35, the two most advanced Gen. 4.5 and Gen. 5 fighters in the U.S. Air Force fleet. The Pentagon buys these aircraft in Lots on a year-on-year basis.
However, multiyear contracts for as much as five years gives manufacturers – Boeing for the F-15 and Lockheed Martin for the F-35 – and the government several advantages. These include possible savings of 5-15% as, because of the large bulk buys, the companies more concretely invest in factory, assembly lines, tooling and manufacturing equipment as they are assured of future orders.
Consequently, the draft bill states that more spares and components can also be ordered from down the vendor supply chain. This helps both production and maintenance, ensuring shorter delivery timelines and greater aircraft availability.
However, the draft 2027 NDAA, that is yet to be signed into law and is awaiting another round of revision in the first week of June, places some caveats and prerequisites before awarding multiyear contracts.
The Department of War would have to first demonstrate to the House and Senate defense committees that the contract would meet all the initial and future spare part needs for the jets. This itself entails the service departments to conduct detailed studies covering current and future needs, and tabling them before Congress.
A multiyear F-15EX and F-35 contract also requires the Pentagon to have the requisite budget for those many years, thereby making such awards subject to the ultimate approved allocations in the final NDAA, while balancing other equipment needs and procurement plans.
For the F-35, the draft NDAA specially requires the Department of the Air Force, the Pentagon and the F-35 Joint Program Office (JPO) to submit a series of reports before Congress and the Government Accountability Office (GAO). One section requires the Pentagon to provide an update about the recommendations on the F-35 the GAO has made since 2014 and are still unaddressed.
An uncertainty analysis on future F-35 JPO cost estimates on the F-35, a review of the sustainment strategies for the jet, and a new baseline cost estimate for its Block 4 upgrades are also required. The Pentagon is expected to send lawmakers and GAO a report on the costs, status and challenges for all the critical data rights required for the F-35.
The F-35 JPO meanwhile has been asked to report by Dec. 15 about its requirements for the fighter’s planned Power Thermal Management System (PTMS) modernization effort, needed by the Block 4 upgrade.
Air Force needs
The Air Force in recent times similarly has stated the benefits of multiyear contracts. Air and Space Forces Magazine quoted Air Force Secretary Troy E. Meink’s May 21 testimony to the HASC, stressing upon the limitations of year-on-year contracts, particularly with regard to the F-15EX:
“Because [of] the instability in the [F-15EX] production rates and the unknown future, the contractor [Boeing] just couldn’t make the investments necessary to tool up and improve. That long-term stability allows a contractor to do those things that eventually save the government money, and allow us to produce those aircraft quicker.”
However, the Air Force is also pursuing other big ticket programs like the B-21 Raider and the F-47 Next-Generation Air Dominance (NGAD), complementing pursuits like the Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) and larger strategic strike programs like the Dragon Cart, the B-52J and the Sentinel ICBM. Funding for these in the 2027 NDAA will decide if the Air Force can club a few years worth of orders for the Eagle II and the Lightning II – or award multi-year contracts at all.
