Concern for the lack of pilots has become critical enough that “for the first time,” the Air Force Reserve has “selected 40 ROTC cadets to go to pilot training,” said Air Force Reserve Chief Lt. Gen. JJ Jackson at ASC15. “We’re gonna go ahead and fly them out to units to get them seasoned and trained into full-time status” before sending them into the Reserve, he said, speaking with Lt. Gen. Stanley Clarke, the director of the Air National Guard; Lt. Gen. Mike Holmes, the deputy chief of staff for strategic plans and requirements; and Dan Sitterly, the principal deputy assistant secretary of the Air Force for manpower and reserve affairs, during a Total Force panel. “We’re doing that to survive. … Our technicians and [traditional Reservists] are making decisions” to leave the service because the pay is better over on the industry side and because they are getting burned out, said Jackson.
The use of a military counter-drone laser on the southwest border this week—which prompted the Federal Aviation Administration to abruptly close the airspace over El Paso, Texas—will be a “case study” on the complex web of authorities needed to employ such weapons near civilian areas and the consequences of agencies…
