If the Air Force doesn’t get enough junior officers to voluntarily leave the service, it plans to hold a reduction in force board in June, so says Lt. Gen. Roger Brady, USAF’s top personnel officer. The service plans to separate in 2007 around 8,000 officers, but that includes all ranks. (A senior officer early retirement board meets today.) For non-retirement eligible officers, the service has set a new date—March 31—as the last day to take the voluntary separation pay option. As of Dec. 28, it has approved VSAs for some 1,800 officers. USAF needs another 1,000 in overage year groups (1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2000, and 2001) to opt out, or the service will RIF that number in June and separate them by Jan. 29, 2008.
The Next-Generation Air Dominance Fighter is Air Combat Command’s top priority, because without it, the Air Force can’t provide the control of the air the whole military depends on to operate, Air Combat Command chief Gen. Mark D. Kelly said. He also named a replacement for the E-3 AWACS, new…