{"id":55738,"date":"2016-01-27T20:42:57","date_gmt":"2016-01-27T20:42:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2016\/01\/27\/us-army-mulls-expanding-units-comprising-active-reserve-pilots\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T00:07:05","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T00:07:05","slug":"us-army-mulls-expanding-units-comprising-active-reserve-pilots","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/land\/2016\/01\/27\/us-army-mulls-expanding-units-comprising-active-reserve-pilots\/","title":{"rendered":"US Army Mulls Expanding Units Comprising Active, Reserve Pilots"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>WASHINGTON \u2013 The US Army is considering how multi-component units might help it\u00a0achieve greater capability as the force shrinks in a time of budget austerity and <span class=\"rte rte-comment\">has, for the first time,<\/span> implemented such a structure within its fixed-wing aviation branch for the first time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"line-height:1.6\">The pilot program took shape at the same time a commission tasked with examining the future force structure of the <span class=\"rte rte-comment\">US <\/span>Army was also deeply examining possible ways to make greater use of multi-component units, made of both full-time troops and reservists.<\/span>The service began implementing the plan in October, attaching a small group of active and <span class=\"rte rte-comment\">r<\/span>Reserve pilots to already existing fixed-wing aerial exploitation battalions at Fort Bliss, Texas, and Hunter Army Airfield in Savannah, Georgia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The <span class=\"rte rte-comment\">C<\/span>congressionally\u00a0established National Commission on the Future of the Army comes out with its report Thursday. The commission looked at a number of alternative approaches, such as the Air Force\u2019s <span class=\"rte rte-comment\">r<\/span>Reserve-associate concept that has <span class=\"rte rte-comment\">r<\/span>Reserve components and the regular Air Force sharing equipment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Air Force-inspired associate unit concept is the model the Army is using to form its fixed-wing aerial intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance multi-component units.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;We over the past 14 years have had a significantly high demand for our aerial ISR platforms, in Iraq and Afghanistan in particular, that has placed a strain on the system,&#8221; Col. John Lindsay, the director for Army aviation in the service&#8217;s operations, plans and policy arm, told Defense News in a recent interview.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;We have been able to meet all requirements as defined by the combatant commanders but we&#8217;ve had to tap into the pool of pilots that are associated with the operational airlift mission,&#8221; he said. &#8220;So we are borrowing those guys in order to fly the other platforms.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Army&#8217;s two major manned, fixed-wing missions are operational airlift and ISR. The Army has nearly 150 operational airlift aircraft around the world, but far fewer ISR aircraft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Due to studies suggesting the Army had too much operational support airlift capacity and the fact that the &#8220;vast majority&#8221; of the pilots flying aircraft for this mission resided in the <span class=\"rte rte-comment\">r<\/span>Reserve component, the service decided to pool pilots from both the active and <span class=\"rte rte-comment\">r<\/span>Reserve components that would be able to fly ISR aircraft when needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Pooling pilots to fly a small number of high-demand aircraft is helping to re-balance the force structure and meet the near constant need in theater, according to Lindsay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The associate unit &#8220;allows you to increase capability without increasing numbers of aircraft or equipment, you are basically concentrating your assets, your pilots,&#8221; Lt. Col. Jim Willson, Army fixed-wing requirements officer, said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The formation of the associate unit should likely result in cost-savings and will feed the insatiable appetite for aerial ISR while creating better synergy between the active and <span class=\"rte rte-comment\">r<\/span>Reserve components, Willson added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But while the fixed-wing associate unit is working for the Army, applying multi-component structures across the force may not make as much sense in some cases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Fixed-wing platforms tend to serve a mission in terms of single airplanes or pairs, but rotary-wing aircraft can function collectively in groups of eight to 24 aircraft at a time, in certain cases, Lindsay said. &#8220;So the idea of an associate unit in support of a battalion that could be pulled away and take all the assets with it leaving an associate unit with nothing to train on, that is a challenge,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But multi-component units are something the Army will consider more and more &#8220;in the time of constrained resources,&#8221; Lindsay said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;The guidance and direction that we&#8217;ve gotten from senior Army leadership is to look at various approaches to improving our capability and readiness,&#8221; he said. &#8220;If considering multi-component options at various levels make sense then I think that will be carefully considered.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Maj. Gen. Michael Lundy, the Army Aviation Center of Excellence commander at Fort Rucker, Alabama, told Defense News at a recent Association of the US Army aviation forum,&#8221;When you think about units that don&#8217;t have to collectively operate together &#8230;\u00a0the complexity of training them is less,&#8221; and therefore multi-component units are easier to incorporate into the framework.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">With the fixed-wing ISR associate unit, the Army is &#8220;double-manning because we weren&#8217;t aircraft limited, we were crew limited&#8221; and so the service doubled the crews, Lundy said. &#8220;Those are the kind of units, clearly, that are going to be the ones we are going to look at from a multi-compo perspective and I think there is a great benefit doing that,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But, &#8220;when you start thinking about assault helicopter units or attack units \u2014 cavalry squadrons \u2014 that have to train and fight collectively, those become much more difficult to do multi-compo,&#8221; Lundy said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There are some examples within the rotary-wing fleet that could adopt a multi-component structure, according Lundy. For instance, general support aviation battalions or medical evacuation units could support such a formation because of how they conduct missions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Medevac units go out on missions in platoons of three helicopters, he said, so, for example, &#8220;we could have, in a 15-ship medevac company, three of them active and one of them Guard or flip that around.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Air traffic services is another area <span class=\"rte rte-comment\">like air traffic services <\/span>companies would be well-served as multi-component units as the <span class=\"rte rte-comment\">r<\/span>Reserve force\u2019s air traffic controller skill-set is often stronger because controllers have experience working\u00a0at high-traffic, civilian airfields.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Training is also an issue because the active and <span class=\"rte rte-comment\">r<\/span>Reserve components churn at different rates. &#8220;It\u2019s becoming more challenging for us to synchronize and get units lined up where they deploy together, at least close enough together, where they can train together,&#8221; Lundy said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Even so, Lundy noted multi-components do work in some cases and have worked well for the Army in the past. Two multi-component units are deployed: An active combat aviation brigade in Afghanistan with National Guard units attached and a National Guard CAB in Iraq and Kuwait with active units attached.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;When you think about peacetime or home station that is a whole different animal and there is a host of challenges,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;There are still challenges in mixing units from other organizations but I think overall, across the branch, we&#8217;ve done a phenomenal job of deploying multi-compo units,&#8221; Lundy said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Email: <a href=\"mailto:jjudson@defensenews.com\">jjudson@defensenews.com<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Twitter: <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/JenJudson\">@JenJudson<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Army is considering how multi-component units might help achieve greater capability as the force shrinks in a time of budget austerity and has, for the first time, implemented such a structure within its fixed-wing aviation branch.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":36105,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":14,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[33,14],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3330],"class_list":["post-55738","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-home","category-land"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"HWTTX3LZEFFDBF6PANTVB3XKJE","arc_canonical_url":"\/land\/2016\/01\/27\/us-army-mulls-expanding-units-comprising-active-reserve-pilots\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>US Army Mulls Expanding Units Comprising Active, Reserve Pilots - Defense News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Army is considering how multi-component units might help achieve greater capability as the force shrinks in a time of budget austerity and has, for the first time, implemented such a structure within its fixed-wing aviation branch.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/land\/2016\/01\/27\/us-army-mulls-expanding-units-comprising-active-reserve-pilots\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"US Army Mulls Expanding Units Comprising Active, Reserve Pilots\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Army is considering how multi-component units might help achieve greater capability as the force shrinks in a time of budget austerity and has, for the first time, implemented such a structure within its fixed-wing aviation branch.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/land\/2016\/01\/27\/us-army-mulls-expanding-units-comprising-active-reserve-pilots\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Defense News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-01-27T20:42:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-08-08T00:07:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jen Judson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jen Judson\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\n\t    \"@context\": \"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\n\t    \"@graph\": [\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"Article\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/land\\\/2016\\\/01\\\/27\\\/us-army-mulls-expanding-units-comprising-active-reserve-pilots\\\/#article\",\n\t            \"isPartOf\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/land\\\/2016\\\/01\\\/27\\\/us-army-mulls-expanding-units-comprising-active-reserve-pilots\\\/\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"author\": {\n\t                \"name\": \"migration\",\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/cc76c831bb37a926738c8391fca7a3b1\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"headline\": \"US Army Mulls Expanding Units Comprising Active, Reserve Pilots\",\n\t            \"datePublished\": \"2016-01-27T20:42:57+00:00\",\n\t            \"dateModified\": \"2026-08-08T00:07:05+00:00\",\n\t            \"mainEntityOfPage\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/land\\\/2016\\\/01\\\/27\\\/us-army-mulls-expanding-units-comprising-active-reserve-pilots\\\/\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"wordCount\": 1059,\n\t            \"commentCount\": 0,\n\t            \"publisher\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#organization\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"image\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/land\\\/2016\\\/01\\\/27\\\/us-army-mulls-expanding-units-comprising-active-reserve-pilots\\\/#primaryimage\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"thumbnailUrl\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/635895028874884429-gettyimages-arljpg.jpg\",\n\t            \"articleSection\": [\n\t                \"Home\",\n\t                \"Land\"\n\t            ],\n\t            \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\",\n\t            \"potentialAction\": [\n\t                {\n\t                    \"@type\": \"CommentAction\",\n\t                    \"name\": \"Comment\",\n\t                    \"target\": [\n\t                        \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/land\\\/2016\\\/01\\\/27\\\/us-army-mulls-expanding-units-comprising-active-reserve-pilots\\\/#respond\"\n\t                    ]\n\t                }\n\t            ]\n\t        },\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"WebPage\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/land\\\/2016\\\/01\\\/27\\\/us-army-mulls-expanding-units-comprising-active-reserve-pilots\\\/\",\n\t            \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/land\\\/2016\\\/01\\\/27\\\/us-army-mulls-expanding-units-comprising-active-reserve-pilots\\\/\",\n\t            \"name\": \"US Army Mulls Expanding Units Comprising Active, Reserve Pilots - Defense News\",\n\t            \"isPartOf\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#website\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"primaryImageOfPage\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/land\\\/2016\\\/01\\\/27\\\/us-army-mulls-expanding-units-comprising-active-reserve-pilots\\\/#primaryimage\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"image\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/land\\\/2016\\\/01\\\/27\\\/us-army-mulls-expanding-units-comprising-active-reserve-pilots\\\/#primaryimage\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"thumbnailUrl\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/635895028874884429-gettyimages-arljpg.jpg\",\n\t            \"datePublished\": \"2016-01-27T20:42:57+00:00\",\n\t            \"dateModified\": \"2026-08-08T00:07:05+00:00\",\n\t            \"description\": \"The Army is considering how multi-component units might help achieve greater capability as the force shrinks in a time of budget austerity and has, for the first time, implemented such a structure within its fixed-wing aviation branch.\",\n\t            \"breadcrumb\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/land\\\/2016\\\/01\\\/27\\\/us-army-mulls-expanding-units-comprising-active-reserve-pilots\\\/#breadcrumb\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\",\n\t            \"potentialAction\": [\n\t                {\n\t                    \"@type\": \"ReadAction\",\n\t                    \"target\": [\n\t                        \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/land\\\/2016\\\/01\\\/27\\\/us-army-mulls-expanding-units-comprising-active-reserve-pilots\\\/\"\n\t                    ]\n\t                }\n\t            ]\n\t        },\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"ImageObject\",\n\t            \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/land\\\/2016\\\/01\\\/27\\\/us-army-mulls-expanding-units-comprising-active-reserve-pilots\\\/#primaryimage\",\n\t            \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/635895028874884429-gettyimages-arljpg.jpg\",\n\t            \"contentUrl\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/635895028874884429-gettyimages-arljpg.jpg\"\n\t        },\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"BreadcrumbList\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/land\\\/2016\\\/01\\\/27\\\/us-army-mulls-expanding-units-comprising-active-reserve-pilots\\\/#breadcrumb\",\n\t            \"itemListElement\": [\n\t                {\n\t                    \"@type\": \"ListItem\",\n\t                    \"position\": 1,\n\t                    \"name\": \"Home\",\n\t                    \"item\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/\",\n\t                    \"ad_zone\": \"home\"\n\t                },\n\t                {\n\t                    \"@type\": \"ListItem\",\n\t                    \"position\": 2,\n\t                    \"name\": \"Land\",\n\t                    \"item\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/land\\\/\",\n\t                    \"ad_zone\": \"land\"\n\t                },\n\t                {\n\t                    \"@type\": \"ListItem\",\n\t                    \"position\": 3,\n\t                    \"name\": \"US Army Mulls Expanding Units Comprising Active, Reserve Pilots\"\n\t                }\n\t            ]\n\t        },\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"WebSite\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#website\",\n\t            \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/\",\n\t            \"name\": \"Defense News\",\n\t            \"description\": \"Covering the politics, business and technology of defense | Defense News\",\n\t            \"publisher\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#organization\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"potentialAction\": [\n\t                {\n\t                    \"@type\": \"SearchAction\",\n\t                    \"target\": {\n\t                        \"@type\": \"EntryPoint\",\n\t                        \"urlTemplate\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"\n\t                    },\n\t                    \"query-input\": {\n\t                        \"@type\": \"PropertyValueSpecification\",\n\t                        \"valueRequired\": true,\n\t                        \"valueName\": \"search_term_string\"\n\t                    }\n\t                }\n\t            ],\n\t            \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\"\n\t        },\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"Organization\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#organization\",\n\t            \"name\": \"Defense News\",\n\t            \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/\",\n\t            \"logo\": {\n\t                \"@type\": \"ImageObject\",\n\t                \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\",\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\n\t                \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/defensenews-logo-white.png\",\n\t                \"contentUrl\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/defensenews-logo-white.png\",\n\t                \"caption\": \"Defense News\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"image\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"\n\t            }\n\t        },\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"Person\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/cc76c831bb37a926738c8391fca7a3b1\",\n\t            \"name\": \"migration\",\n\t            \"image\": {\n\t                \"@type\": \"ImageObject\",\n\t                \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\",\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9e8d47be443ce94ce7fc357677b5f9c70235bb1f59e7267a102a74af58c04f59?s=96&d=mm&r=gcf4cb6ee0ec29e49e7a963234e4340ec\",\n\t                \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9e8d47be443ce94ce7fc357677b5f9c70235bb1f59e7267a102a74af58c04f59?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\n\t                \"contentUrl\": \"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9e8d47be443ce94ce7fc357677b5f9c70235bb1f59e7267a102a74af58c04f59?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\n\t                \"caption\": \"migration\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/author\\\/migration\\\/\"\n\t        }\n\t    ]\n\t}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"US Army Mulls Expanding Units Comprising Active, Reserve Pilots - Defense News","description":"The Army is considering how multi-component units might help achieve greater capability as the force shrinks in a time of budget austerity and has, for the first time, implemented such a structure within its fixed-wing aviation branch.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/land\/2016\/01\/27\/us-army-mulls-expanding-units-comprising-active-reserve-pilots\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"US Army Mulls Expanding Units Comprising Active, Reserve Pilots","og_description":"The Army is considering how multi-component units might help achieve greater capability as the force shrinks in a time of budget austerity and has, for the first time, implemented such a structure within its fixed-wing aviation branch.","og_url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/land\/2016\/01\/27\/us-army-mulls-expanding-units-comprising-active-reserve-pilots\/","og_site_name":"Defense News","article_published_time":"2016-01-27T20:42:57+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-08-08T00:07:05+00:00","author":"Jen Judson","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jen Judson","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/land\/2016\/01\/27\/us-army-mulls-expanding-units-comprising-active-reserve-pilots\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/land\/2016\/01\/27\/us-army-mulls-expanding-units-comprising-active-reserve-pilots\/"},"author":{"name":"migration","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/#\/schema\/person\/cc76c831bb37a926738c8391fca7a3b1"},"headline":"US Army Mulls Expanding Units Comprising Active, Reserve Pilots","datePublished":"2016-01-27T20:42:57+00:00","dateModified":"2026-08-08T00:07:05+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/land\/2016\/01\/27\/us-army-mulls-expanding-units-comprising-active-reserve-pilots\/"},"wordCount":1059,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/land\/2016\/01\/27\/us-army-mulls-expanding-units-comprising-active-reserve-pilots\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/635895028874884429-gettyimages-arljpg.jpg","articleSection":["Home","Land"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/land\/2016\/01\/27\/us-army-mulls-expanding-units-comprising-active-reserve-pilots\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/land\/2016\/01\/27\/us-army-mulls-expanding-units-comprising-active-reserve-pilots\/","url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/land\/2016\/01\/27\/us-army-mulls-expanding-units-comprising-active-reserve-pilots\/","name":"US Army Mulls Expanding Units Comprising Active, Reserve Pilots - Defense News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/land\/2016\/01\/27\/us-army-mulls-expanding-units-comprising-active-reserve-pilots\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/land\/2016\/01\/27\/us-army-mulls-expanding-units-comprising-active-reserve-pilots\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/635895028874884429-gettyimages-arljpg.jpg","datePublished":"2016-01-27T20:42:57+00:00","dateModified":"2026-08-08T00:07:05+00:00","description":"The Army is considering how multi-component units might help achieve greater capability as the force shrinks in a time of budget austerity and has, for the first time, implemented such a structure within its fixed-wing aviation branch.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/land\/2016\/01\/27\/us-army-mulls-expanding-units-comprising-active-reserve-pilots\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/land\/2016\/01\/27\/us-army-mulls-expanding-units-comprising-active-reserve-pilots\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/land\/2016\/01\/27\/us-army-mulls-expanding-units-comprising-active-reserve-pilots\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/635895028874884429-gettyimages-arljpg.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/635895028874884429-gettyimages-arljpg.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/land\/2016\/01\/27\/us-army-mulls-expanding-units-comprising-active-reserve-pilots\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/","ad_zone":"home"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Land","item":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/land\/","ad_zone":"land"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"US Army Mulls Expanding Units Comprising Active, Reserve Pilots"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/#website","url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/","name":"Defense News","description":"Covering the politics, business and technology of defense | Defense News","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/#organization","name":"Defense News","url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/defensenews-logo-white.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/defensenews-logo-white.png","caption":"Defense News"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/#\/schema\/person\/cc76c831bb37a926738c8391fca7a3b1","name":"migration","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9e8d47be443ce94ce7fc357677b5f9c70235bb1f59e7267a102a74af58c04f59?s=96&d=mm&r=gcf4cb6ee0ec29e49e7a963234e4340ec","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9e8d47be443ce94ce7fc357677b5f9c70235bb1f59e7267a102a74af58c04f59?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9e8d47be443ce94ce7fc357677b5f9c70235bb1f59e7267a102a74af58c04f59?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"migration"},"url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/author\/migration\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/635895028874884429-gettyimages-arljpg.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"Defense News","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55738","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55738"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55738\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":55749,"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55738\/revisions\/55749"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36105"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55738"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55738"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55738"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=55738"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}