Although stateside readiness improved since my last testimony, it is still too low. These indicators point to significant readiness challenges now and in the future. Finally, as the age of our aircraft increased, we incurred greater costs and workloads to maintain readiness. As we stated in earlier testimonies, next year the average age of our aircraft will be 20 years. Even including planned procurements, in 2015 the average age will grow to 30 years.
Modernization is tomorrow's readiness.
If we don't modernize by replacing aircraft that are beyond their useful life and revitalize those with life left in them, we can expect significant additional maintenance requirements, reduced reliability, and increased costs, as these aircraft grow older. The already high workload will increase for our people who must maintain and fly them. The intense demands we place on them as they perform Air Force missions around the world require highly motivated, highly skilled, professional airmen. However, today we are performing more missions with fewer people. Indeed, today's active duty force is the smallest in the history of the Air Force.