The 2010 Quadrennial Defense Review is set for release Monday. But a draft iteration circulating inside the Washington, D.C., beltway last week shed some light on what to expect, such as Air Force plans to field a force structure of 71 to72 combat wings between 2011 and 2015. This includes: 29 airlift and aerial refueling wing-equivalents (with 33 primary mission aircraft per unit); 11 to 12 theater strike wing-equivalents (with 72 PMA per unit); 10 space and cyberspace wings; eight intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance wings (with approximately 300 total aircraft); five long-range strike (bomb) wings (with up to 96 PMA); five air superiority wing-equivalents (with 72 PMA per unit); and three command and control wings (with a total of 30 aircraft and five air and space operations centers). By comparison, the 2006 QDR organized the Air Force around 86 combat wings. Stay tuned for more.
A provision in the fiscal 2025 defense policy bill will require the Defense Department to include the military occupational specialty of service members who die by suicide in its annual report on suicide deaths, though it remains to be seen how much data the department will actually disclose.