What’s Driving the Personnel Cuts: Air Force leaders point to a range of initiatives—from streamlining depot maintenance to making personnel cuts—as the means by which they can hedge enough funds to recapitalize and modernize the force. We’ve already reported that USAF plans to cut some 57,000 personnel over the next five years. Driving that reduction, said Air Force budget director Maj. Gen. Frank Faykes, is the fact that over the last 10 years personnel costs nearly doubled even though the number of personnel remained “relatively constant.”
The rate of building B-21 bombers would speed up if the fiscal 2026 defense budget passes. But it remains unclear how much capacity would be added, and whether the Air Force would simply build the bombers faster, or buy more.