WASHINGTON The U.S. Army will cut 6,500 active-duty aviation jobs over the next two fiscal years as part of a force realignment that shifts emphasis from manned rotary-wing formations to unmanned systems. Service officials told Army Times the reductions will occur across fiscal years 2026 and 2027 and are aimed at integrating aviation more tightly with ground formations where drone technology is proliferating. An Army spokesperson said the transformation is designed to keep aviation faster, leaner, and more capable, while modernizing and optimizing the force for global mission requirements. Roughly 30,000 soldiers currently serve within the aviation branch, including pilots, flight crews, and maintainers. Talent panels will decide who remains in aviation and who transitions to other Army branches, with the first boards convening in October. According to a military personnel (MILPER) message cited by Army Times, the reviews will focus on junior warrant officers, lieutenants, and captains assigned to Apache and Black Hawk units. Panel composition will include a brigadier general, senior warrant officers, and a former brigade commander. Selection criteria will draw on officer evaluation reports and direct input from aviation leaders. For warrant officers, evaluators will also consider progress toward pilot in command status as a measure of tactical aptitude. Officials said the service is prioritizing retention where possible and intends to move qualified personnel laterally into other roles rather than separate them outright. The Army is also considering similar panels for enlisted aviation specialties, signaling that the reassignment process could extend beyond the officer and warrant officer ranks. Leaders frame the rationale in terms of access to airspace and mission ownership. Tasks that once required aviation formationsparticularly certain reconnaissance and maneuver functionsare increasingly accessible to soldiers in multiple units through the rapid fielding of drones. That diffusion of air-enabled capability reduces the need for some manned aviation elements while expanding the demand for unmanned skills, from launch-and-recovery to data exploitation and counter-UAS measures. Officials underscore that aviation remains essential to the combined arms team, but the overall structure is being tuned to reflect technological shifts. For units, the near-term impact will be administrative and instructional. Commands must prepare officers and warrants for boards by consolidating evaluations, documenting leadership input, and validating flight progression data. In parallel, training shops will have to adjust syllabi and ranges to accommodate more unmanned tactics, techniques, and procedures alongside traditional helicopter tasks. Maintenance pipelines may also feel the change: some billets historically tied to airframes will realign toward sensors, datalinks, and systems that support unmanned operations. Though the cuts were first reported by Task & Purpose, Army Times confirmed the scope and timeline with service officials and detailed the panel process. The overarching message from the Army is continuity: retain talent, reassign where prudent, and modernize without discarding critical capabilities such as lift, attack, and MEDEVAC that only manned platforms currently deliver at scale. By spreading air-enabled functions more evenly across formations and accelerating unmanned integration, leaders argue the service will be better positioned for future conflicts.