The U.S. Army is replacing the Army Combat Fitness Test with a new five-event assessment, the Army Fitness Test, which will become the service’s official test of record for all Soldiers. The move is intended to sharpen fitness standards, bolster warfighting readiness, and support a more lethal force, the Army said.
The AFT will include a three-repetition maximum deadlift, hand-release push-up with arm extension, sprint-drag-carry, plank, and a two-mile run. The design and scoring framework were informed by RAND Corporation analysis and Army data drawn from nearly one million test records.
A phased rollout begins June 1, 2025. New scoring for Soldiers in 21 combat military occupational specialties starts Jan. 1, 2026, for the active component and June 1, 2026, for the Reserve and National Guard.
Standards will differ based on a Soldier’s career field. For combat specialties, the Army will use a sex-neutral, age-normed combat standard requiring at least 60 points per event and a minimum composite score of 350. For combat-enabling specialties, the general standard will be performance-normed by sex and age, with a minimum of 60 points per event and an overall score of at least 300.
Implementation guidance and execution orders are slated for release in May. The service also plans policy updates to account for Soldiers with medical profiles and to oversee how the new standards affect readiness, retention, and end strength.
The shift marks another evolution in Army fitness testing following the transition from the decades-long Army Physical Fitness Test to the ACFT, which introduced strength and power events and later incorporated adjustments such as the plank. The AFT trims the assessment to five events while maintaining emphasis on strength, endurance, and mobility.
More information is available at www.army.mil/aft.
