President Trump signed an executive order on Friday allowing the U.S. Air Force to recall as many as 1,000 retired military pilots to active-duty service.
The order intended to address a shortage in Air Force ranks would call back only retired officers who wish to return.
It overrules a law that says only 25 retired pilots can be recalled through voluntary programs to serve in any one branch, expanding a state of national emergency declared by President George W. Bush after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001.
A Pentagon spokesman, Navy Commander Gary Ross, said the order was signed ‘to mitigate the Air Force’s acute shortage of pilots’.
President Trump signed an executive order on Friday allowing the U.S. Air Force to recall as many as 1,000 retired military pilots to active-duty service. He is pictured above at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland in September
Trump is pictured speaking at an event celebrating the 70th birthday if the Air Force in September. At the end of the 2016 fiscal year the service was short 1,555 pilots, including 1,211 fighter pilots
‘The pilot supply shortage is a national level challenge that could have adverse effects on all aspects of both the government and commercial aviation sectors for years to come,’ Ross said in a statement on Friday.
At the end of the 2016 fiscal year the service was short 1,555 pilots, including 1,211 fighter pilots, according to Secretary of Air Force Heather Wilson.
Addressing the shortage is part of the Trump administration’s attempt to step up its Afghanistan war strategy to defeat the Taliban and terrorists.
In August Trump unveiled the new strategy in the 16-year-old war, which includes sending additional U.S. troops to Afghanistan and increasing U.S. air support for the Afghan military.
The Air Force expanded its aviation bonus program in August and increased incentive pay earlier this month for officers and enlisted crew members for the first time since 1999.
The military has also increasingly offered retention initiatives that focus on work-life balance and quality of life.
Addressing the shortage is part of the Trump administration’s attempt to step up its Afghanistan war strategy to defeat the Taliban and terrorists
The Air Force expanded its aviation bonus program in August and increased incentive pay earlier this month for officers and enlisted crew members
‘We need to retain our experienced pilots and these are some examples of how we’re working to do that,’ Wilson said in a statement on August 25.
‘We can’t afford not to compensate our talented aviators at a time when [commercial] airlines are hiring unprecedented numbers.’
The world’s commercial aviation industry will need 637,000 new pilots between 2017 and 2036, according to a Boeing forecast released in July.
The shortage of pilots poses a serious challenge, particularly for regional airlines.
Other branches of the U.S. military also need more pilots, and Friday’s executive order could be used later to help address those challenges.
Defense Secretary James Mattis now has ‘additional authorities to recall retired aviation officers regardless of certain limitations on status, period of service, and numbers to mitigate the Air Force’s acute shortage of pilots,’ Ross said.