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Officials want to add 13,000 airmen by 2010

Air Force leaders have confirmed their plans not only to stop the drawdown but also to add nearly 13,000 airmen for an active-duty end strength of 330,000 airmen by the end of fiscal 2010. But they did not illuminate a specific timeline for the plus-up, or which career fields will benefit.

In a statement after the Oct. 1-4 CORONA leadership summit at the Air Force Academy, Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz said leaders discussed the issue and will make a final decision in the weeks ahead.

“Force shaping across the Air Force is hard work,” Schwartz said. “There are many factors that need to be considered as we determine where manpower billets will be placed — everything from new missions that are directly contributing every day to joint operations to shortfalls in specific functional areas.”

In an Aug. 20 memo sent to all the Air Force’s senior leaders, Schwartz and Secretary Michael Donley said the issue would be decided at CORONA, but that does not appear to have happened. Instead, airmen know little more about end-strength plans other than the number — firmly set at 330,000.

But that means the Air Force has a long way to go.

Congress, in the 2009 Defense Authorization Act passed in September, capped the service at 317,050 airmen in 2009 because neither the Air Force nor the Defense Department asked lawmakers to approve more — despite the fact that Defense Secretary Robert Gates halted the drawdown last summer.

But the Air Force is allowed to exceed the congressionally approved number because it is wartime, Air Force officials said.

“For fiscal 2009, as permitted by law, Air Force strength will execute significantly higher than the original submission of 317,050,” said Air Force spokesman Capt. Mike Andrews.

According to the Air Force Personnel Center Web site, the service had 322,604 active-duty airmen as of September.

Some of the growth will come in 2009, with the remainder in 2010, Air Force officials said.

But how much higher the service will go in 2009, and where the money will come from are open questions. And it is still unclear what career fields will see most of the growth.

Schwartz and Donley have said several times that the additional 13,000 or so airmen the Air Force will gain will not reinstate billets already cut. Rather, they said, the growth will come in new and emerging mission areas they believe are important to the future of the service.

Air Force leaders have said in the past that nuclear-focused career fields, aircraft maintenance and jobs related to unmanned aerial vehicles will likely get the bulk of the increase.