The Air Force is set to award enlistment bonuses to more than 25,000 airmen in fiscal 2026 — nearly 10 times the number from the previous year — as part of plans to triple spending on incentives to fill specialized roles in cyber, space and special warfare.

The service is requesting nearly $141 million,  up from $46.6 million in fiscal 2025 for initial enlistment bonuses.

Similarly, the Space Force is seeking to more than triple its enlistment bonus budget, requesting $13 million in fiscal 2026, up from $4 million in fiscal 2025. The service expects to award enlistment bonuses to 550 Guardians in fiscal 2026 — a sharp increase from the 100 Guardians eligible for enlistment bonuses in fiscal 2025, and only two Guardians in 2024.

According to the Air Force and Space Force budget documents, a significantly larger number of bonus recipients is what is driving this big increase in spending. The Air Force expects far more service members to qualify for and receive enlistment bonuses compared to previous years: 25,000 airmen are on deck for the extra perk in fiscal 2026. By comparison, only 4,500 are projected to get the incentives in 2025, and the service paid bonuses to roughly 4,300 airmen in 2024.

While more recruits are receiving bonuses, the average payout per person is slightly lower than in previous years.

Initial bonuses of up to $75,000 help recruit “the hardest-to-fill skills,” including special warfare roles and other critical career fields such as cyber systems security, missile and space systems, security forces and cryptologic language analysis. Those specialists receiving top-dollar incentives — which weren’t awarded at all in fiscal 2024 or 2025 — represent a select few compared to smaller bonuses given to broader groups of recruits.

Approximately 19,579 airmen will receive $2,500 in 2026. Another 400 airmen will get $50,000 each; 287 will receive $65,000; and 207 individuals will get the maximum $75,000 bonus. About 500 airmen are expected to receive $20,000 and another 500 airmen will receive $40,000 each this fiscal year.

In the Space Force, 100 Guardians are expected to receive $40,000 each in fiscal 2025. In fiscal 2026, the service plans to pay $40,000 to 100 Guardians and $20,000 to another 450.

All Air Force and Space Force bonuses are earned upon completion of training and a six-year commitment. Since training lengths vary across different career fields, some service members may have to wait more than two years to receive their enlistment bonus — meaning some of the airmen and Guardians receiving bonuses in 2026 may have enlisted in 2024 or earlier.

The Air Force and Space Force’s Initial Enlistment Bonus, or IEB program, is designed to encourage individuals to enlist for at least four or six years in “specific, critical” military specialties.

“The IEB program was implemented to improve our ability to sustain our critical/technical skills by incentivizing initial enlistment for six years instead of four; position the Air Force for a better return on our recruiting and training investment; provide Recruiting Service another tool to help attract new recruits with technical abilities,” the Air Force budget document reads.

The budget documents don’t specify the amount each career field receives, but in the past the Air Force has offered $10,000 for specialties such as cyber warfare, missile and space systems maintenance and aerospace ground equipment. The service has also advertised bonuses of up to $50,000 for special warfare.

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