The U.S. Air Force has announced a plan to retire more than 500 older warplanes over the next five years, while adding just 200 new planes over the same period.

If Congress approves the scheme, the Air Force will drop from 5,194 planes to 4,814 between now and 2019. It will still be the biggest and most powerful air arm in the world … by a large margin.

But the flying branch will lose some of its current fighting abilities, despite Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel’s assurance that the post-2019 Air Force will be “a smaller and more capable force.”

The warplane cull is part of the Pentagon’s five-year spending plan, which military leaders sent to Congress in early March along with the $575-billion 2015 defense budget. Congress ultimately decides how much money the Pentagon spends—and on what—so the brass’ plan remains just that, a plan.

Still, the proposed plane cuts are indicative of the military’s thinking as it struggles with federally-mandated “sequestration” budget reductions. And they could preview a much smaller Air Force, one with fewer drones, attack jets, dogfighters and electronic warfare planes.