Air Force looks to cut nearly 50% of tactical air control party jobs

The Air Force is set to shrink its elite corps of tactical air control party airmen by nearly half over the next three years, Air Force Times has learned.

Downsizing the cohort is among the Air Force’s latest steps to pivot toward the Indo-Pacific after 20 years of more traditional air-ground wars in the Middle East.

TACPs deploy with Army and special operations units and act as liaisons between forces on the ground and those overhead. Cutting those airmen would significantly limit the number of officers and enlisted airmen who are trained as battlefield scouts to plan attacks and call in airstrikes on the front lines.