Pilots who signed up for five additional years in the Air Force and an Aviator Retention Pay bonus of $125,000 last year will have the option of going for the full nine years and $225,000.

The Air Force said that allowing all pilots — not only fighter pilots — to extend their additional commitments to nine years is one of the most significant changes from last year's Aviator Retention Pay program. In 2013 and 2014, only fighter pilots were able to sign up for as many as nine more years, and get a maximum bonus of $225,000. Other pilots were restricted to five years, with a $25,000 bonus for each year.

Pilots and combat systems officers, or CSOs, have until Sept. 30 to apply for this year's retention pay program, the Air Force said in an April 1 release. Depending on the aviator category and length of their service extension, officers can receive between $10,000 and $25,000 per year. Some categories of officers will be able to receive half of the bonus in an up-front lump sum payment.

"The Air Force continues to expand previous ARP programs to decisively and deliberately shape and retain the rated force," director of military force management policy Brig. Gen. Brian Kelly said in the release.

The Air Force also said pilots who are signing up for retention pay for the first time, as well as CSOs supporting drones, will receive a rate that is lower than the maximum $25,000 bonus. The Air Force did not say by press time how big those bonuses will be.

"Although previous CSO retention efforts have been very effective, there are shortages in the overall number of fighter (12F [Air Force Specialty Code) and rescue (12H) CSOs, and the [12U remotely piloted aircraft] enterprise continues to grow to meet steady-state requirements," Air Force spokeswoman Rose Richeson said in an email. Those are the only CSO career fields that will be offered retention pay this year, she said.

The Air Force is dropping retention pay for all other CSOs, such as those supporting bombers, C2ISR or command, control, intelligence, signals and reconnaissance, and mobility. Richeson said the retention rate for those career fields is "on course" and as a result, the bonuses are not needed.

This program is open to lieutenant colonels and below who will not reach 16 years of total active federal military service by the end of the fiscal year that their undergraduate flying training active-duty service commitment expires. To be eligible, officers also must be qualified for operational flying duty and be entitled to and receiving monthly flight pay.

Most officers will have to pay taxes on the bonuses, but some who are deployed to a combat zone could be exempted from paying taxes on them. This is the third year in a row the Air Force has allowed pilots to receive massive bonuses of up to $225,000. In the first two years, it was open only to fighter pilots.

"The Air Force modifies the ARP program annually in order to meet current and future rated force requirements," Kelly said. "We continue to choose this viable, cost-effective method to retain experienced pilots and their expertise for command, staff and other rated requirements."

Stephen Losey is the air warfare reporter for Defense News. He previously covered leadership and personnel issues at Air Force Times, and the Pentagon, special operations and air warfare at Military.com. He has traveled to the Middle East to cover U.S. Air Force operations.

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