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.
The Air Force has embraced new technical approaches like open mission systems and rapid software updates for cutting-edge aircraft like the B-21 and Collaborative Combat Aircraft. Increasingly, though, the service is also working to apply these to its older, “legacy” aircraft, officials said this week.