Flygermangelen i USAF blir tydeligere - Curt Lewis

Air Force Pilot Shortage Reaches 2,000

Pilots are burning out as increased operations leave the USAF stretched thin.

An F-22 Raptor from Joint Base Langley-Eustis, VA, sits on the ramp at Rickenbacker International Airport.

In July 2016, United States Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein and then-Secretary Deborah Lee James revealed their plan to fix what they referred to as a "quiet crisis." The Air Force, they wrote for Defense One, faced a shortage of 500 fighter pilots that would grow to 700 by the end of the year. In all, the USAF was short 1,500 aviators, including 1,300 fighter pilots.

Almost a year later, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) called the Air Force pilot shortage a "full-blown crisis" that could eventually "call into question the Air Force's ability to accomplish its mission." And this week, Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson revealed the deficit climbed to 2,000 pilots, as current operations "are stretching the force to the limit, and we need to start turning the corner on readiness."

In a Pentagon press conference, Goldfein and Wilson asked Congress to end sequestration so the USAF can have "a higher and stable budget to provide security and solvency for the nation," according to CNBC.