The United States Air Force is considered the strongest Air Force in the world but its facing shortages on personnel-especially pilots. As of 2017 the Air Force has been down 700 pilots and 4000 maintainers resulting in the lack of being able to maintain and fly aircraft. Due to the fact that Air Force fighter pilots are so highly trained they are sought after by companies offering them better pay, benefits, and more time with their families. Obviously, this is an offer that they can’t turn down especially if they have a family because if you’re a pilot in the Air Force you are constantly training and have little to no time to spend with your family.

There is no problem with being able to recruit a number of people to be pilots but many of those people aren’t qualified and the process to become a pilot is so long they aren’t able to get new pilots trained and deploy them quick enough. Still, that wouldn’t be enough to man the amount of aircraft that the Air Force hopes to have within a few years. This has resulted in lowering the requirements and expectations to become a pilot.

If the problem isn’t resolved soon we could see other countries air forces become more powerful, have more advanced aircraft, and more manpower.