The U.S. Air Force Of Tomorrow

U.S. Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class Kyle Alhers performs his morning routine on an F/A-18C Hornet aboard the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan in the Gulf of Oman, Oct. 14, 2008. U.S. Navy photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Gary Prill

Reverse! Air Force Wants More Flyboys, Fewer Jets
-- The Danger Room

Not too long ago, the Air Force was looking to cut 40,000 people from the service, to pay for more planes. Now: Reverse thrust! The Air Force brass wants to add an extra 13,000 flyboys by 2010. To help pay for the new troops, they'll retire more than 300 fighter jets early.

In all, the service plans to retire 137 F-15s, 177 F-16s and nine A-10s, according to internal Pentagon documents obtained by Inside Defense . That's more than 10 percent of the existing fleets. And it means that the F-15s will be retiring seven years early; the F-16s' service times will be cut short by six years; and the A-10s will head to the boneyard 11 years ahead of schedule.

To make up for the retired planes, the Air Force allegedly wants to ramp up production of the controversial F-35 Joint Strike Fighter stealth jet. "If true, the U.S. Air Force is taking a huge gamble here. The Lockheed Martin F-35A is not scheduled to enter service until at least two years after the aircraft it replaces would service, and there's still big uncertainty that Lockheed can stick to the F-35 program's flight test and development schedule," Stephen Trimble says.

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My Comment: This is probably one of the many lesser reasons why the heads for the Air Force were fired a few months ago.