The money will buy 3,258 PGMs. Plans call for the service to cut another 5,000 this year, dropping the total to 372,000, and then in Fiscal 1999 to trim another 1,000 members. The level at the end of 1999 would be 371,000. However, the QDR established a new and lower projected figure of 339,000 troops in 2003, meaning USAF must shed another 32,000 active duty members during the period 2000-03. When the Air Force achieves the lower projected level, it will be 44 percent smaller than it was at its Reagan-era peak of 608,000.
New reductions require Congressional approval.
ANG will operate 1,170 aircraft and pull 357,800 flying hours in the interceptor, tactical airlift, air refueling, general-purpose fighter, and reconnaissance missions. It funds 1.8 million flying hours. Flying time in 1999 for active Air Force fighter and attack aircrews has been set at 19.1 hours per month, up slightly from 18.7 this year but down from 19.3 the year before. Bomber crews, which flew about 20 hours per month in 1997, will get only 17.9 hours per month in 1999, but this is not viewed as a worrisome problem. DoD funded many programs to acquire or hold on to high-quality personnel.