The Legislative Yuan’s new session begins with the first meeting of the National Defense and Foreign Affairs Committee on 10/12 "Retirement of National Army Airmen and Supplementary Current Situation and Retention Mechanism Actions"

Various committees of the Legislative Yuan held committee elections on the 8th. The Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee was chaired by legislators Wang Yichuan (left) and Xu Qiaoxin (right). (File photo, taken by reporter Cong Changjin)

[Reporter Wu Zheyu/Comprehensive Report] According to the 2016 Budget of the Ministry of National Defense, the number of volunteer soldiers will rebound next year, but the loss of senior majors and lieutenant colonels in the National Army Flying Force has not slowed down. As the new session of the Legislative Yuan is about to begin, the first meeting of the Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee will be held on October 12. The newly appointed convening committee member Xu Qiaoxin will invite Defense Minister Gu Lixiong to report on the "retirement and replenishment of national military pilots and the current status of the retention mechanism" and prepare for questions.

Regarding the topics discussed at the meeting, Jie Zhong, a researcher at the China Strategic Foresight Association, once pointed out that the National Army's "flying officer continuation of active service awards" will decrease by about 4% next year compared with this year, and it will be the fourth consecutive year of decline; compared with 2012, the decrease is nearly 10%, which means that the number of people eligible to receive the award may decrease by 10% in four years, indicating that the retirement of senior flying officers has not slowed down.

Please read on...

Jie Zhong explained that the recipients of the "Flying Officer Renewal of Active Service Scholarship" are majors, lieutenant colonels and colonels who have served for the minimum number of years in active service. They are not only senior flying officers, but also the core backbone of the flying force and the main source of instructors. Although the recipients also include military officers. Air Force pilots are still in the majority of the aviation helicopter force, but Air Force pilots are still the majority. In particular, Air Force pilots can still be transferred to civil aviation pilots after serving the minimum number of years of active service. The original intention of the Ministry of National Defense to establish this bonus was to reduce the number of senior Air Force pilots who transfer to the civil aviation industry.