Overall, the Air Force continues to do extremely well in recruiting, but there remain nine career fields with high operational demand where critical manning shortages remain, said Lt. Gen. Darrell Jones, the service’s manpower and personnel chief. They include linguist, special operations, and explosive-ordnance-disposal specialties, he said in testimony before the House Armed Services Committee’s military personnel panel. To attract those skills, the Air Force has budgeted $14.5 million in initial enlistment bonuses in Fiscal 2013, he said. Similarly, while retention rates “remain at an all-time high” across the service as a whole, “retention is still problematic for some skills and year groups,” said Jones. For example, retaining senior non-commissioned officers in high-demand specialties such as combat control and pararescue “is challenging,” said Jones. So is retaining officers who are special operations pilots, remotely piloted aircraft operators, and special operations control and recovery operators, he said. Bonuses have proven to be “the most effective, responsive and measurable tool,” for retention and for convincing airmen to retrain into career fields where there are shortages, he told the lawmakers last week. (Jones’ prepared statement)
B-21 Bomber Shelter May Reveal Size of Secret Jet
March 3, 2021
The Air Force may have inadvertently revealed the size of the secret B-21 bomber with the release of an image of a temporary shelter for the airplane. The service is evaluating several designs for temporary shelters for everyday use and deployment to temporary operating locations. If the B-21 fully fits…