What Is the New Air Force PT Test? — 2026 PFRA Guide

In March 2026 the Air Force replaced its fitness test, still widely called the PFA, with the Physical Fitness Readiness Assessment (PFRA).¶1.3.1 New score charts took effect on 1 March 2026. The rules were published on 24 March 2026 as AFMAN 36-2905 (formerly DAFMAN 36-2905), Air Force Physical Fitness Readiness Program, and scores began counting for record on 1 July 2026.

The headline changes: a 2-mile run or the 20-meter HAMR replaces the 1.5-mile run, the waist-to-height ratio is scored, points are rebalanced to 50/20/15/15, and Regular Air Force members test every six months. This page explains each change and cites the paragraph so you can check it. To see where you stand, run your numbers through the free USAF PT Score Calculator.

AFMAN 36-2905 applies to the Regular Air Force, Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard, and not to the Space Force; Guardians follow SPFMAN 36-2905 (front matter).

• Civilians and retirees don’t take the PFRA. Civilians appear in the manual only in program roles; a civilian Peer Fitness Leader, for example, isn’t required to take one.¶2.29.2
• With an approved retirement or separation date within 12 months, you’re exempt from further PFRAs.¶4.1.7
• Guard and Reserve members test every 12 months, not every 6.¶3.4.2
• New accessions (BMT, tech school, OTS, USAFA and others) meet their program’s own standards; the first official PFRA comes at the first duty station.¶6.1.1–6.1.2
• Special Warfare and EOD Airmen also take an occupationally specific test, and their PFRA uses sex-neutral charts.¶1.3.2–1.3.3

Sources: AFMAN 36-2905 Summary of Changes and Table 3.3; the September 2025 SAF/MR memo, which said the alternate components “remain authorized”; and the Air Force’s 24 Sep 2025 announcement, which said the new test “reimplements the scored body composition component” and requires a test every six months “regardless of their score”.

The 2-mile run is a third longer than the 1.5-mile run. The HAMR, the High Aerobic Multi-shuttle Run,¶3.1.2.4 has you run between lines 20 meters apart to a beep that speeds up each level, and your score is the last shuttle you complete before three warnings in a row.A2.9.6 The waist-to-height ratio is your waist divided by your height, with the waist taken at the midpoint between your lowest rib and the top of your hip bone,¶3.15.4.5 and one table applies to everyone.¶3.15.4.2

You must reach the starred minimum on each physical event you test: 35 of 50 on cardio and 2.5 of 15 on strength and on core.¶3.1¶3.7.1 Body composition has no minimum; a WHtR of 0.60 or higher simply scores 0 of 20. Below a minimum, the event scores 0 and the test is Unsatisfactory, however high the composite.¶3.6.1 On top of that, the composite must reach 75.

A strong runner who scores 48 of 50 on cardio and maxes core and body composition but falls a few push-ups short of the strength minimum scores 0 on strength: an 83 composite that still fails. Doing only the minimum everywhere doesn’t work either, because it can’t reach 75.¶3.7.4

One more rule: if your WHtR is above .55 and your composite fails, you take a Tier 2 body fat assessment. Pass it and body composition is scored as exempt.¶3.1.1¶3.7.2

The Air Force has given some of its reasons in the manual and its announcements. Where it hasn’t published a reason, we say so.

• The 2-mile run. The February 2026 memorandum makes the 2-mile run “the primary measure” of cardio fitness, and the Air Force describes the program as “a more rigorous assessment model” (af.mil, 27 Feb 2026). It hasn’t published a separate rationale for the distance.
• Run or HAMR at every test. The September 2025 plan would have required the 2-mile run at least once a year; the January 2026 revision lets you choose either event every time (af.mil, 6 Jan 2026).
• A scored waist-to-height ratio. The manual calls body composition “an evidence-based age-agnostic assessment of health risk”,¶1.3.1 and its training guidance notes that “excess abdominal fat is an independent risk factor for disease”.A7.3 You may measure it on a separate day, up to five duty days before the rest of the test, which the manual says is “to reduce unsafe practices”.¶3.1.1
• Exercise options. Hand-release push-ups, the cross-leg reverse crunch and the plank were already allowed before 2026 and remain choices (SAF/MR memo, Sep 2025).
• Every six months. Regular Air Force members now test twice a year whatever the score.Table 3.3 Your installation or wing commander still decides whether units test together and in which months,¶2.14.2¶2.15.4¶3.4.1 and the February 2026 memorandum set the Regular Air Force cycles as March–October and October–March.

Start with your run. The slowest passing 2-mile time for men under 25 is 19:45, a pace of about 9:53 per mile; for women under 25 it is 25:23, about 12:42 per mile. At 10 to 12 minutes per mile, the extra half mile adds roughly 5 to 6 minutes to your time, so check your pace against the 2-mile chart for your age before test day.

The manual’s own training guidance, based on ACSM guidelines, is 20 to 60 minutes of continuous aerobic exercise, at least 3 days a week to maintain fitness and 4 to 5 to improve it.A7.1.3–A7.1.4 AFPC’s Warfighter’s Fitness Playbook 2.0 includes a 2-mile run program and a HAMR program.

For strength and core, keep training the event you’ll test. The options have different charts and minimums, so compare them on the score charts. Then put your latest numbers into the free PFRA score calculator to see where you stand across every component.