Lt. Gen. Roger Brady, head of USAF manpower and personnel, says Air Force efforts to recruit and keep scientists and engineers are ongoing. “We are always short of engineers and people of a scientific bent,” Brady told attendees at AFA’s Air & Space Conference last week, adding that the reason is because “the US is not producing enough of these people.” Brady said he knows one former USAF scientist, now teaching at a university, that has no Americans as grad students.
As Air Force leaders consider concepts of operations for Collaborative Combat Aircraft, sustainment in the field—and easing that support by using standard parts and limiting variants—should be a key consideration, according to a new study from AFA's Mitchell Institute of Aerospace Studies.