China can’t be a military superpower without pilots: All of the branches of the United States military have struggled to meet recruiting goals in recent years, but it is being seriously felt in the shortage of pilots.
According to Maj. Gen. Albert Miller, the United States Air Force director of training and readiness for operations, there was a shortfall of about 1,900 pilots last September, and the situation likely isn’t improving.
To address the issue, the Air Force has sought to bring back retired pilots to fill staff gaps, while it has also been offering bonuses to its aviators, which are now as high as $35,000 a year depending on the length of the contract the pilot signs, and what type of aircraft they may fly.
The United States military is also considering how artificial intelligence (AI) could be used to allow some aircraft – notably the Lockheed Martin C-130J Hercules – to fly with just a single pilot.
China Allowing Female Carrier Aviators
The United States Navy became the first branch of the U.S. military to welcome female aviators in 1974, while women began to fly combat missions nearly two decades later in 1993. Today, women aviators make up about 12% of all U.S. Navy pilots.
The People’s Republic of China (PRC) has had women aviators even longer. Women have served in its rank since the first batch enlisted in 1951, and over the past 70 years there have been a total of nearly 700 female pilot cadets recruited by the People’s Liberation Air Force (PLAAF).
Just last month, the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) announced it will recruit women pilots for the first time to serve on its aircraft carriers. China has trained women to fly fighter jets such as the J-10, but it had not previously recruited them to pilot carrier-based aircraft.
Even as China now has the largest fleet of warships, it is facing a serious shortfall in finding trained naval pilots.
According to the Chinese military, “The cadets who pass the selection procedures, which will test the candidates’ physical and psychological qualities and flying talent, will have a chance to become China’s first female carrier-based aircraft pilots. The recruitment is also open for the first time to new graduates of science and engineering majors at ordinary universities as well as college students performing military services in the Chinese navy and university graduates who have joined the navy, other than only high-school and military-school graduates in the past.”
The recruitment notice was also posted on the PLAN’s official WeChat account earlier this week, and it called upon young men and women to “devote their youth to building a world-class navy and contributing to the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation!”
Ni Lexiong, a professor at Shanghai University of Political Science and Law, told the South China Morning Post this week that the relaxation of requirements was a sign China wanted to train more talent for its quickly modernizing naval force.
“The Chinese navy is in need of young and talented personnel who understand how to operate sophisticated radar, fighter and warship systems that have been upgraded amid the modernisation processes,” said Ni.
China will still have to play catch-up with the United States.
It was just last month during the Super Bowl that the U.S. Navy commemorated 50 years of women aviators, including those who routinely fly from America’s flattops.
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Author Experience and Expertise:
A Senior Editor for 19FortyFive, Peter Suciu is a Michigan-based writer. He has contributed to more than four dozen magazines, newspapers, and websites with over 3,200 published pieces over a twenty-year career in journalism. He regularly writes about military hardware, firearms history, cybersecurity, politics, and international affairs. Peter is also a Contributing Writer for Forbes and Clearance Jobs. You can follow him on Twitter: @PeterSuciu.
