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.”
House, Senate Unveil Competing Proposals for 2026 Budget
July 11, 2025
Lawmakers from the House and Senate laid out competing versions of the annual defense policy bill on July 11, with vastly different potential outcomes for some of the Air Force’s most embattled programs.