The Air Force has notified the 127 lieutenants being reconsidered by a special board about their fate. Officials elected to retain 22 of these junior officers, who got a second chance to remain on active duty when the service found irregularities in data presented to the spring “force shaping” board. The special board was to reconsider 192 lieutenants, but 65 elected to accept the original verdict that said they must leave the service by Sept. 30.
The Air Force overall reduced its size by 120 aircraft in fiscal year 2021, but kept about the same number of fighter, bomber and attack aircraft, according to data supplied by the service. The F-35 fleet saw the biggest increase while the B-1B bomber fleet saw the largest decline.