Army announces new 'sex-neutral' combat fitness test

Starting this summer, the Army will require female soldiers in combat roles to pass the same “sex-neutral” fitness test as their male counterparts, the service announced Monday.

The new Army Fitness Test (AFT) is now “the official physical fitness test of record for all Soldiers,” replacing the Army Combat Fitness Test beginning June 1, the service said in a release detailing the changes.

The switch comes after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth late last month ordered a review of physical standards for military combat roles to ensure female service members weren’t given lower fitness benchmarks. 

Hegseth in the past has suggested such standards have been lowered to meet diversity quotas, but critics contest this and worry any changes could dissuade women from joining the military. 

The new, five-event test is “designed to enhance Soldier fitness, improve warfighting readiness, and increase the lethality of the force,” the Army states in its announcement. 

As with its predecessor, the test will be given to active duty soldiers twice a year and to National Guard and Reserve troops once a year. Should service members fail the assessment twice in a row, they could be booted from the Army.

The AFT also includes tests administered in the outgoing evaluation, including deadlifts, pushups, holding a plank position, a 2-mile run and an exercise where troops sprint, drag a weighted sled and carry a set amount of weight.

The one event not being carried forward is the standing power throw, which required soldiers to throw a 10-pound medicine ball over their heads and backward. 

The standard AFT, which all troops must pass, will still be sex and age-based, according to the Army.

But scoring on the test for 21 combat military occupational specialties is “sex-neutral and age-normed,” with women needing to meet the “male” standards. 

That means they will have to lift more weight and run faster times than required under the previous standards, likely reducing the number of women who meet the requirements for such combat roles.

The new standards for active duty soldiers in combat roles will be put in place in January 2026, while those in the National Guard and Reserve need to meet them by June 2026. 

Hegseth, prior to being nominated as Pentagon chief, bluntly stated that the military “should not have women in combat roles.”

He has since walked back that assertion, saying all combat roles will remain open to women but “they must all meet the same, high standard” as male soldiers.

“For far too long, we allowed standards to slip and different standards for men and women in combat arms. ... That’s not acceptable,” he said in a video posted to social platform X in March.

Past military leaders, meanwhile, have testified that the military has not lowered standards for women to gain entry into combat positions.