Air Force Secretary Deborah James said Wednesday she expects a key finding of the National Commission on the Structure of the Air Force’s report, which will be released today, to be a larger USAF role for the reserve component. “There’s no doubt our Air Force will rely more, not less, on the Air National Guard and Reserve,” James said at an AFA-sponsored, Air Force breakfast in Arlington, Va. She’s looking forward to the report, and said she expects it to complement and inform ideas presented at upcoming posture hearings. It will support her goals of “growing a capable Air Force for tomorrow’s challenges.” And it will help her and service leadership hash out “what it is the nation might ask us to do.” Although, the end result is already predictable, she said: “A smaller Air Force, highly capable, with cutting-edge technology.”
The Chinese air force is accelerating some of its fighter pilot training but likely won't fully modernize until 2030. Tradition and the tempo of graduating aviation academy classes constrains pilot production.