WASHINGTON — "Continuous deployments over the past two decades have reduced the Air Force's readiness—affecting personnel, equipment and aircraft," according to the Government Accountability Office (GAO).
In a new report published Tuesday, the GAO identified "several ongoing implementation challenges" to a 2022 deployment program called "Air Force Force Generation."
It was established to rebuild readiness and to prepare for potential conflict with near-peer competitors.
"The Air Force, to its credit, pivoted," said GAO Director of Defense Capabilities and Management, Diana Maurer. "But they had some growing pains,"
The watchdog report stated the Air Force "has not completed an assessment of minimum U.S. base staffing needs." It also stated that it's unclear whether bases will have enough personnel to keep crucial functions running when the majority of their units deploy.
"The personnel who are part of those wings provide security, they're civil engineers, they're providing a number of services," said Maurer, in an interview with 13 News Now. "So that, if the whole wing deploys, suddenly there's no one left at the home bases to perform those functions. And we identified this as a problem for the Air Force."
Maurer said actions are needed to Improve the Air Force Force Generation process.
"If it's implemented as they would like it to be implemented, it will better position that service to meet national security needs in the coming years."
The GAO made four recommendations. The Air Force agreed with all of them.