Creating a Pilot Corps for the 21st Century

The U.S. armed services are undergoing a fundamental reshaping and restructuring, driven by tighter budgets, new security challenges, new technology, and selective reliance on reserves. The Air Force, for example, has reduced pilot ranks by a third since 1986 in response to Pentagon belt tightening. While these changes will affect all military services, their impact on the supply of activeduty and reserve pilots in the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy and on the experience levels of pilots in those services may be particularly direct and imminent.