The Air Force Reserve is on track to lose nearly half of its fighter jets by the end of the decade, a course its top general warns could sideline the force in conflicts and deepen the military’s pilot crisis.

“It takes us out of the fight,” Lt. Gen. John Healy, chief of the Air Force Reserve, said during an interview at the Pentagon.

From fiscal 2014 to fiscal 2030, the Reserve’s fighter force will shrink by 48 percent, Healy said, with no clear plans for replacement. The Air Force is retiring those and other aircraft to free up money for newer technology and modernization, but active-duty forces are prioritized over the part-time Reserve and National Guard components. And unlike the Guard, the Reserve lacks gubernatorial advocacy, making it more vulnerable.

The F-16 aggressor squadro

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