The Air Force and Space Force would both expand their ranks next year under the Pentagon’s proposed $1.5 trillion 2027 budget.
The Active-Duty Air Force would add 8,900 maintainers and security forces Airmen, shoring up shortfalls, with the primary focus on improving operational readiness.
The Space Force is projected to increase by 2,800 Guardians, a first step toward doubling the Space Force’s size in the coming years.
“The total force growth of 12,700 is not just an increase in numbers, but a profound commitment to expand our capabilities and reduce stress on the current force,” said USAF Maj. Gen. Frank R. Verdugo, the Department of the Air Force’s top uniformed budget official.
Today’s Air Force employs about 320,000 Airmen, and Air Force Chief of Staff Kenneth S. Wilsbach and Secretary of the Air Force Troy Meink have made improving readiness their top priority since coming on board in the last year.
“At our core, we fly and fix aircraft,” Wilsbach wrote in his opening message to the force, and he has drummed that message home numerous times since.
In addition to people, the Air Force budget would invest $22.2 billion in weapons systems sustainment in 2027, up $3 billion over its 2026 budget. The funds would pay for “depot maintenance and contractor logistics support, sustaining engineering, and modernization,” according to budget documents.
Pentagon officials said they would buy more spare parts, especially for the F-35 fighter.
“This funding directly increases the availability of U.S. Air Force spares, which means faster repairs and results in more time in the air for our pilots,” Verdugo said. “This expansion directly enables the fly and fix mentality, ensuring our air assets are ready and our installations are secure.”
Growing the Space Force
The Space Force currently has around 10,400 uniformed Guardians—too few to meet growing demand for USSF’s capabilities and to counter increasing threats in space from Russia and China.
Verdugo said adding more than 2,000 Guardians would be “the initial phase of a comprehensive five-year strategic plan” to expand the Space Force. “Growth will target the space, intelligence, cyber, and acquisition career fields, guided by an overarching strategy of carefully balancing immediate combat capabilities with the long-term investment aimed at enhancing combat-critical space power for the joint force in the nation,” Verdugo said.
The Space Force has already exceeded its recruiting goal for fiscal 2026, having enlisted 730 new Guardians by February, and has now recruited 1,073 so far this year, an Air Force Accessions Center spokesperson told Air & Space Forces Magazine last week. The Air Force likewise surpassed its 2026 recruiting goal in April, months ahead of schedule.
Adding to the appeal of military service has been the services’ stellar performance in multiple military operations over the past year, as well as improved pay. For 2027, the Pentagon is seeking 7 percent pay increases for junior enlisted personnel up to E-5, 6 percent increases for enlisted personnel E-6 to E-9 and officers up to O-3 and below, and 5 percent increases for mid- and senior officers.
Those payraises contrast with a proposed pay freeze for federal civilian personnel. Congress has often balked at unequal raises for military and civilian employees and the difference is likely to fuel a debate that could last all year.