Las Vegas, Nevada – For years, the US Air Force has been trying to find a way to replace its personnel as it prepares for the 2018-19 fiscal year.
In a move that has already cost the Air Force nearly $3 billion, the service has ordered around 1,300 new airmen, who will be tasked with assisting the Air National Guard in providing logistical support to the military.
But the military has also struggled to find contractors that can fill the roles.
The Air Force’s hiring freeze has also led to the Pentagon announcing that it will be hiring nearly 1,600 more airmen over the next three years, although some contractors may be out of the market due to budget constraints.
The service’s recruiting freeze is part of an effort to help the US air force recruit new aircrew to meet the growing demand for aircrew.
The military has been working on its hiring freeze for more than a decade, but the Air Forces Airman Retiree Command (AAFARC) has been the first to announce the plans to hire airmen.
According to a statement released by the service, the hiring freeze is to ensure the Airforce has enough airmen to meet future needs.
However, the AirForce is also expected to reduce its staff to the size of a small army by 2019 and by 2020 the service will be looking for a contractor with the ability to work across a variety of areas of the service.
The hiring freeze also comes as the service struggles to fill its aircrew of nearly 800 airmen who are expected to retire between 2018 and 2023.
The shortage of aircrew, which is expected to last until 2031, has led to several lawsuits, some of which are now pending in federal court.
The lawsuits claim the AirNational Guard Airman Retirement System, the federal agency that manages the retirement fund, failed to keep the service up to date on staffing levels, equipment and training.
In addition, some Air National Guardsmen have filed lawsuits against the Airman Board, which manages the aircrew program, saying that the Air Guard has not properly addressed staffing issues and that Air National guard aircrew are being put at risk by the agency.
AAFARC is responsible for recruiting aircrew for the Air Service and is also responsible for maintaining aircrew and providing other support to aircrew during their retirement.
The recruitment freeze has been in place for a decade and the service’s hiring freezes are not expected to change.
“Our focus is on hiring new air crew to ensure we have enough aircrew,” said Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James in a statement.
“We expect to hire about 1,500 aircrew by 2020.”
In addition to the hiring freezes, the airmen will also be required to work at least 40 hours a week, pay a $250 monthly fee and have no more than $1,600 in unused pay or allowances during their career.
The US Air Forces service has been under budget and understaffed since the mid-1990s, according to the Air Services Command.
The airmen are expected back in service in the summer of 2019, the statement said.
In the statement, the AFARC said it would be hiring the air crews through the end of 2019.
The AFARC has also said it is looking for contractors to help fill aircrew vacancies and that the airman board will be responsible for hiring the new air crews.
In February, the AAFarc announced it had hired around 1.6 million airmen and that it had a backlog of around 2 million aircrews.