Fiscal 2011 is on track to be one of the Air Force’s best years ever for bringing in a crop of excellent recruits (see below), according to Air Force Recruiting Service officials. But once the economy strengthens, the Air Force will face some serious recruiting challenges and must adapt its recruiting methods to continue to reach—and attract—future youth, they say. “[W]e have the best recruiting force in the business; however, our recruiting business practices have largely remained the same,” said Brig. Gen. Balan Ayyar, AFRS commander. “To remain the service of choice for the highest performing young Americans, we have to adapt to the environment and our target audience.” Among the initiatives, Ayyar said AFRS is embracing “more content, inspiration, and engagement” via the Internet, including a social media campaign. For example, by this fall, each recruiter will have his/her own Facebook page. (Randolph release)
The United Kingdom’s Royal Air Force has unveiled a new electronic warfare drone designed to fly with fighter jets into contested airspace, including alongside its fleet of F-35s. RAF says it plans to develop models that draw on the U.S. Air Force’s approach of mating unmanned systems with crewed platforms.