Army AFT vs ACFT: What Changed

Why the Army replaced the ACFT

Army Directive 2025-06 made the AFT the Army’s test of record on 1 June 2025 and says the new test raises fitness standards for all soldiers. The Army ran its last ACFTs on 31 May 2025.

On army.mil the Army describes the switch as a normal update of its fitness standards, informed by performance data from nearly one million ACFTs and an analysis by RAND. It removed the standing power throw because of the event’s technical nature and injury risk.

ACFT and AFT events side by side

Which events each test scores. The AFT kept five of the ACFT’s six events, so its maximum total fell from 600 points to 500.

Source: ACFT Scoring Scales (as of 23 March 2022) and AFT Scoring Scales (effective 1 June 2025).

The combat standard the AFT added

The ACFT tables scored everyone by age and sex. The AFT keeps that table as its general standard, with a 300-point minimum total, and adds a combat standard for soldiers in combat specialties. The combat standard is scored by age only, with men and women on the same column, and needs 350 points. Both standards need at least 60 points on every event.

The combat standard began to count on 1 January 2026 in the Regular Army, the Active Guard Reserve and for Reserve Component soldiers on orders of more than 60 days, and on 1 June 2026 for the rest of the Guard and Reserve. It started with 21 specialties; Army Directive 2026-07 added three in April 2026, for 24. The complete AFT guide lists them.

ACFT and AFT passing lines at ages 22 to 26

The result worth 60 points on each event in the ACFT tables and in the AFT general standard tables, for ages 22 to 26. On the AFT, 60 points is the minimum on every event.

Source: ACFT Scoring Scales (as of 23 March 2022) and AFT Scoring Scales (effective 1 June 2025). Army AFT standards for every age group

The same pattern runs through the other age groups. The 60-point run time got faster for men and women at every age from 17 to 56, and the 60-point push-up count rose for men up to age 51 and for women up to 36. The 60-point deadlift went from 140 to 150 lb for men aged 17 to 31 and stayed the same for everyone else. The sprint-drag-carry and plank tables did not change for any age or sex.

On the combat standard a woman uses the men’s AFT column, so her 60-point run at 22 to 26 is 19:45.

What happened to ACFT scores

ACFT record tests taken before 31 May 2025 stayed valid under existing Army policy, and they counted for semi-centralized promotions until 30 September 2025. The AFT general standard has been used for promotion actions since 1 October 2025, and the combat standard since 1 January 2026. army.mil says 120 promotion points is still the most a soldier can earn for the test.

The Army took no administrative action over the AFT before 1 January 2026, and army.mil says soldiers who failed the general standard during the transition period were not flagged.

Changes to the AFT in 2026

Army Directive 2026-07, issued in April 2026, changed three things. It added Army Diver (12D) and the two Explosive Ordnance Disposal specialties (89D and 89E) to the combat standard. It put the record AFT result, pass or fail and the points, on every evaluation report. And it created the Combat Field Test, a pass or fail test for the combat specialties that sits alongside the AFT and does not replace it. The complete AFT guide covers the Combat Field Test.