As we know, the American armies, including the US Air Force, are facing serious problems in the area of human resources, hampered by insufficient recruitment and non-renewals of contracts, creating a haemorrhage that is difficult to stem.
This problem now affects all specialties, including the most attractive and symbolic function of the US Air Force, fighter pilots. Indeed, in a recently published service memo, the latter indicates that it is currently short of its planned numbers by more than 1800 pilots, including 1142 fighter pilots.
And this is beginning to severely hamper the very functioning of the training of these pilots, with, in the long term, a possible reduction in the operational potential of the most powerful air force on the planet.
In this section:
The US Air Force is short 1848 pilots, including 1142 fighter pilots, by 2024
The memo, written in August 2024 and confirmed to be authentic by Defensenews.com, says the Air Force is currently facing a shortfall of 1848 qualified pilots, including 1142 fighter pilots, to meet its manning goals.
For comparison, the Air and Space Force has just over 900 fighter pilots, for a fleet of 185 combat aircraft. In fact, a deficit of 1100 pilots represents an estimated overall deficit of over 200 combat aircraft, or 10% of the US Air Force's fighter fleet, which has 11900 fighter pilots for 2000 fighters in service.
Young USAF fighter pilots sent to other aircraft types due to lack of training capacity
The effects of this shortage of fighter pilots could have even more severe effects on the flow of human resources in the US Air Force. Indeed, it appears that today, the latter is forced to guide the freshly macaroned fighter pilots after training on the T-38 Talon, towards other specialties.
This shortage of pilots does not specifically concern young recruits, but also, and above all, experienced pilots, those who supervise and train the young pilots on the F-15, F-16, A-10, F-22 and F-35 warplanes.
In doing so, the US Air Force is forced to create a buffer between the exit from the initial fighter school, on T-38, and the transformation to weapon aircraft, in particular by directing young pilots towards an initial instructor role on T-6, for a year or more. Note that this is a solution that the French armies had also implemented, sometimes excessively, in the 90s and 2000s.
Other newly minted pilots are offered a reorientation, potentially temporary, towards other specialties, such as bomber or transport forces, knowing that they would have, according to the USAF, the possibility of returning to the fighter specialty, when circumstances allow.
US Armed Forces and National Guard Handicapped by Insufficient Recruitment and Contract Renewals
The situation that is affecting US Air Force fighter pilots today also affects, in fact, all specialties for all American armies, including the reserve and the National Guard.
Thus, in 2023, the US Army was short of 41 new recruits, while the US Navy only reached 000% of its recruitment targets this year. Paradoxically, after several difficult years, the US Air Force managed to restore balance in terms of recruitment in 65, while the US Marines Corps and the new US Space Force remain in surplus in this area.
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