At a technical briefing on the F-45C, coming in the next decade, a HCSAF General has revealed that the HCSAF aims to stabilise on a 3000 strong fighter fleet. Currently the HCSAF has around 900 F-45As and 2470 F-40s (so 3370) but the number of F-40s has been gradually being reduced over time.
900 F-45Cs are likely to be bought but this still means there will need to be well over 1000 F-40s well into the 2120s and beyond. A number of older F-40s are being upgraded and rebuilt to F-40S standard which will keep them flyable until 2130. A third wave of F-45s is expected in the 2120s but it is likely there will have to be hundreds of F-40s flying well into the 2130s. The HCSAF are looking into rebuilding the newest F-40s in the 2120s when they reach the end of their lives and these are likelty to be the rump of the fleet that maintains numbers towards the middle of the current century.
