The Air Force’s aircraft readiness continued its multi-year slide in fiscal 2018, as the overall mission-capable rate for the aging fleet dropped below 70 percent — its lowest point in at least six years.
Conditions-based maintenance has already been tested on C-5M cargo planes and KC-135R tankers at ten bases around the world, and has also been used on the B-1B Lancer bomber.
The comments come after the Trump administration claimed that the Navy’s amphibious assault ship Boxer took defensive action against a drone in the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday, after the drone got within 1,000 yards of the ship and ignored requests to back off.
Direct hire authority will allow units to hire traditional reservists to fill Air Reserve Technician maintenance job much more quickly, without going through the typical competitive rating and ranking processes.