James discussed the expanded pilot bonus as a way to hold on to fighter pilots. "It's actually something you have to fight for." "Air superiority is not an American birthright," Goldfein said. And it's going to take hard work to turn the problem around, he said. 10 State of the Air Force news conference, Goldfein said that a roughly quarter-century of frequent combat activities and high operations tempos has also strained fighter pilots, and helped contribute to the crisis the service is facing. "The key thing is to raise that benefit, which has not been raised since the year 1999, particularly as we're facing a wave of civilian airline hiring." "Money is not everything, but money is an element that we need to get right," James said in the interview. The Senate version of the bill NDAA does not address the bonus issue, James said, so the Air Force hopes a House-Senate conference committee, which will meet later this year to iron out differences between the two bills, will agree on a $48,000 bonus. James said the House version of the proposed 2017 defense authorization bill National Defense Authorization Act would go even further than the Air Force, and authorize up to $60,000 for pilot retention bonuses.
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