The Air Force will likely experiment with a new way of filling manpower needs called “sponsored reservists,” said outgoing Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz. Britain’s armed forces “have a contract for their refueling where their contractor provides both the platform and some of the crews. And, while some of the crews are active duty, some of them are ‘sponsored reserves’,” said Schwartz in a mid July exit interview. “And, we’ve toyed with that here as well,” he added. Sponsored reservists “are employees of the company and who can flip from their civilian certification to military credentials . . . simply by appropriate authorities executing the right orders,” he explained. Broadly, with regard to the Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve, “there clearly are imaginative things to do” to get needed capability with reduced resources, he said.
The Department of the Air Force announced seven new mission area-focused portfolio acquisition executives for the Air Force and Space Force, some of the department's first steps to implement Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's sweeping acquisition reforms.
