According to the data for February, the Air National Guard fell below its monthly recruiting goal again, achieving only 88 percent of its 680-person target. The Naval Reserve posted the lowest of the reserve components, reaching only 81 percent of its goal. While retention numbers have been a saving grace for the Air Guard, the February rate of 95 percent is good but not as good as the previous month. All services exceeded their active duty marks for new recruits and continued to meet retention goals.
The Air Force is leaning toward a less-sophisticated autonomous aircraft in the second increment of the Collaborative Combat Aircraft, the services chief futurist said. He also suggested that the next increment of CCA may be air-launched, a la the "Rapid Dragon" experiments conducted by the service in recent years.