Lawmakers want the secretary of defense to brief Congress on how sending military aircraft to air shows affects recruiting and readiness, as well as study the effect of bringing those planes to smaller rural communities.
As part of this year’s National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA, Congress has asked the next defense secretary to brief lawmakers early next year on a wide range of issues — from how the military chooses which shows to support; what types of aircraft are provided; the costs involved; the effects on training and recruiting; and the total number of shows the services supported over the past three years.
But the bill also takes it a step further, calling for “a one-year pilot program under which the secretary shall provide military aircraft and aerial demonstration teams in support of not fewer than five air shows located in rural or small market areas across the country for the purpose of providing the public with positive exposure to the armed forces.” It asks the services to submit a report in January 2026 about those shows detailing the costs, types of aircraft involved, and whether there were any measurable changes to readiness and recruiting.
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Air shows, whether on the grounds of a U.S. military installation or out in the community, are among the most outward-facing events that allow the services an opportunity to connect with the public. There are dedicated demonstration teams that travel to air shows, such as the Navy’s Blue Angels, the Air Force’s Thunderbirds or the Army’s Golden Knights parachute team.
But those high-profile teams often don’t make it out to less populated areas due, in part, to a lack of infrastructure or money.
The provision, as originally written in the Senate’s version of the NDAA, asked for the military not to “support covered air shows unless the event organizers cover any costs exceeding $100,000” and called for a two-year pilot program of five smaller shows. The House’s version did not include a similar provision. The final compromise version of the NDAA, which is expected to be signed into law this month, excluded the dollar value from the language and opted for a one-year pilot program instead.
John Cudahy, president of the International Council of Air Shows, said his organization pushed for the NDAA provision in an effort to get more air shows to rural parts of the country.
He explained that many smaller markets don’t have access to expensive items like a Mobile Aircraft Arresting System — essentially, a portable cable that lies across a runway that aircraft with arresting hooks can snag to stop quickly — required to host shows. That limits the military’s visibility in rural areas, he said.
“The people of South Dakota or eastern Washington State or southwest Virginia have just as much of a right to see those assets and remind them of what our military is about as anybody that lives in a more urban location,” Cudahy told Military.com in an interview Thursday.
During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, all the military services faced recruiting headwinds, due in part to a lack of school and public events where they could market themselves.
That included not being able to go to air shows, retired Maj. Gen. Ed Thomas Jr., the former commander of the Air Force Recruiting Service, told Military.com in an interview Thursday. The pandemic’s effects were one factor that caused the Air Force to miss its active-duty enlisted recruiting goal for the first time ever in fiscal 2023.
Thomas said the air shows play a key part in recruiting the public.
“There’s no replacement for that personal connection. It could be a family member, it could be a one-time conversation with a pilot standing in front of an F-35 at an air show, or a maintainer or security forces member that somebody in the public gets to interact with,” Thomas said. “What we found is a lack of personal connections during COVID cost us deeply when it came to trying to fill the roles of the military.”
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