Aged to Perfection?

The average age of the Air Force's planes has increased dramatically. I found an interesting graph to that effect:



As the Cold War ended, fewer planes were needed and fewer were built. This was necessary but it had its side effects: much of the equipment is older than you'd expect. As noted on the graphs above, a pilot flying a bomber or tanker is likely in a plane older than he is and many B-52 pilots have flown the exact same planes as their fathers (the newest B-52 was built in 1962). These planes are maintained well and periodically rebuilt, but eventually they'll pass the point of no return and need to be replaced.

New fighters are already operational (the F-22 Raptor) or on the way (the Joint Strike Fighter F-35), while the Air Force is still sorting out how to replace tankers and bombers (and whether they should even have pilots). The average age for cargo planes has gone down in part because of the purchase of over 150 C-17s in the last 15 years. These planes are expensive, a C-17 costs $200 million, so we can expect the Air Force to be small and make their planes last as long as possible.