The Army Combat Fitness Test will be replaced with the Army Fitness Test, a new five-event test that will be “sex-neutral and age-normed” for 21 combat MOSs, the Army announced in a news release.

Designed to “enhance soldier fitness, improve warfighting readiness and increase the lethality of the force,” according to the release, the new Army Fitness Test will carry over five of the six events of the Army Combat Fitness Test, which replaced the decades-old Army Physical Fitness Test in 2022.

Informed by analysis from the Rand Corp. and Army data from close to 1 million test records, the Army Fitness Test will include the three-repetition maximum deadlift, hand-release pushup arm extension, sprint-drag-carry, plank and 2-mile run, according to the release. The standing power throw is not included in the new test.

Phased implementation is scheduled to begin June 1, with scoring standards for male and female soldiers in 21 combat MOSs to begin on Jan. 1 for the Regular Army and June 1, 2026, for soldiers in the Army National Guard and Army Reserve, the release says.

The combat specialties include infantry, artillery, armor, cavalry, mortarmen, combat engineers and Special Forces, according to the release.

Men and women serving in combat specialties must achieve a minimum of 60 points per event and an overall minimum score of 350. Soldiers in combat-enabling specialties must attain a score of at least 60 points per event and an overall minimum score of 300, according to the release.

“The AFT combat standard is sex-neutral and age-normed,” according to the release, while the AFT “general standard is performance-normed by sex and age groups.”

Implementation guidance and associated execution orders will be released in May, the Army said. Policies will be modified to accommodate implementation of the new test, including support to soldiers with medical profiles and monitoring mechanisms to gauge the impact of the new standard on the Army’s readiness, retention and end strength, according to the release.

“The change reflects the Army’s continued focus on building a physically ready force capable of meeting operational demands in austere environments,” the release says.