Through the first three quarters of Fiscal 2013, all three Air Force components met or exceeded their numerical accession goals, according to the Defense Department’s latest recruiting statistics. The Air Force’s Active Duty component met its year-to-date target through June by accepting 20,154 accessions, states the Pentagon’s release. The Air National Guard also matched its goal, bringing in 7,788 accessions. Meanwhile, the Air Force Reserve surpassed its year-to-date target by taking on 5,515 accessions, which represented 680 more, or 114 percent, of its goal of 4,835, according to the release. Among the sister services and their reserve components, only the Army Reserve fell short of its accession goal through June. It attracted 19,779 new recruits, 2,572 accessions below its stated goal of 22,351. The Army Reserve has experienced this recruiting shortfall throughout the fiscal year. At least initially, this was intentional as the component started out Fiscal 2013 applying “precision recruiting” to help rebalance its force. (See also our coverage of May’s recruiting numbers.)
With upgrades, F-16s can serve as a numbers-builder in the combat air forces until the 2040s, and it’s not necessary to launch its successor yet, program officials said at an industry conference. “We anticipate hundreds of F-16s in active service for decades to come,” meaning into the 2040s, Col. Tim…