The Air Force’s Fiscal 2007 officer drawdown plans (see above) target 313 twice-deferred-for-promotion lieutenant colonels or colonels who have four years in grade and are not already selected for promotion to general. If the service doesn’t get 313 volunteers, it will go for a SERB to be held from Jan. 8-19, 2007. Another 3,200 officers with more than six but less than 12 years of service are also in the crosshairs; these officers may elect to take voluntary separation pay, with a reserve commitment. And, some 900 junior officers—those with five years or less service—will face a force-shaping board to be held March 12-23, 2007. Since the numbers for these three groupings only add up to 4,413, the service must expect another 4,000 of various categories to walk out the door through normal attrition.
An important U.S. Air Force E-3 Sentry AWACS command and control plane was among the aircraft damaged in a March 27 Iranian missile and drone attack on Prince Sultan Air Base, Saudi Arabia, people familiar with the matter told Air & Space Forces Magazine.