{"id":51642,"date":"2019-02-20T02:32:36","date_gmt":"2019-02-20T02:32:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/uncategorized\/2019\/02\/20\/the-386-squadron-goal-is-still-lean-compared-to-desert-storm-days-air-force-chief-says\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T20:58:20","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T20:58:20","slug":"the-386-squadron-goal-is-still-lean-compared-to-desert-storm-days-air-force-chief-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/2019\/02\/20\/the-386-squadron-goal-is-still-lean-compared-to-desert-storm-days-air-force-chief-says\/","title":{"rendered":"The 386-squadron goal is still lean compared to Desert Storm days, Air Force chief says"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Air Force is not using the 386-squadron goal as a negotiating ploy, asking for more than it needs, then bartering downward with lawmakers to get more than it has now, according to Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Dave Goldfein.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The service is asking to grow its operational squadrons by 25 percent because that\u2019s the \u201cright force mix that we need\u201d based on thousands of iterations of war-gaming analysis, Goldfein said at a Brookings Institution event Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen we ended the Cold War, and a few years later went to war against a rogue nation in Iraq to take them out of Kuwait, we had 401 operational squadrons across the total U.S. Air Force,” Goldfein said. \u201cWe had 134 fighter squadrons, from which we deployed 34 forward to fight Desert Storm. We had about 980,000 airmen [who] made up the active duty, Guard and Reserve \u2014 just shy of a million.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCompare that to what we\u2019re asking for,” Goldfein said, noting the priorities of the 2018 National Defense Strategy: countering a resurgent Russia and a rising China, while still maintaining the fight against violent extremist organizations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For that reason, the service announced at the Air Force Association\u2019s annual Air, Space and Cyber conference in September that it wants to increase the 312 operational squadrons it has today to 386 squadrons by 2030.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe analysis says what every airmen already knows,\u201d Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson said this fall. \u201cThe Air Force is too small for what the nation is asking us to do.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The growth plan will focus on long-range aviation, Goldfein said Tuesday. That includes tankers, surveillance aircraft and command and control planes.<\/p>\n\n\n\t