The Air Force had to reduce its target recruiting goal by several thousand airmen due to ongoing congressional budget delays, but is still on pace to hit its newly revised benchmark by the end of this month, according to the service.

Chief Master Sgt. Frank Rawls, the top recruiter for the Air Force, told Military.com in an interview Tuesday that the service is "96%" of the way to its active-duty goal of 29,950 airmen with expectations it will hit that number by the end of this month -- roughly three months ahead of schedule

Last year, the Air Force announced a much more ambitious benchmark of 32,500 active-duty airmen, according to a list of goals provided by the Air Force Accessions Center after hitting its 2024 numbers.

While the Air Force is still on pace to hit or even surpass that higher goal by the end of the fiscal year, the number was reduced by a little more than 3,000 recruits. Joe Gangemi, an Air Force Ascensions Center spokesperson, said the goal was reduced in April.