The 
Air Force’s active duty component and Air Force Reserve met their fiscal-year-to-date recruiting goals through January, while the Air National Guard continued to overcome a slow start as it neared its goal, according to the Defense Department’s newest recruiting data. The active duty component accepted 10,207 new recruits through January, exactly matching its fiscal-year-to-date target. Similarly, AFR exactly hit its goal so far in Fiscal 2012 by bringing in 2,854 new accessions, show DOD’s figures. The Air Guard came up 80 recruits short of its goal through January, attracting 2,591 new accessions, or 97 percent of its target. However, it continued the trend of improving its numbers as Fiscal 2012 progresses. It was only at 94 percent of its fiscal-year-to-date goal through December. The Army, Marine Corps, and Navy active duty components all met or exceeded their goals. Among their reserve components, only the Army National Guard did not meet or exceed its numerical accession goals.
The B-21 Raider stealth bomber was recently flown, for the first time, by an operational pilot as part of its flight test process, the Air Force said June 11. And a top Pentagon official said the move to bring operational testing into the B-21 process earlier than normal shows the…