The Defense Department has asked Congress to include some “force-shaping” incentives in the Fiscal 2007 defense authorization act. Although DOD is asking for separation incentives to cover all departments, its explanatory text singled out the Air Force for special attention, stating: “The Air Force is about to embark on its most significant transformation since the Cold War drawdown of the 1990s. The Air Force is eliminating approximately 34,500 active duty authorizations in order to fund this transformation.” You’ll find the incentives, such as opening Voluntary Separation Pay to all grades—enlisted and officer—and applying Selective Early Retirements more broadly, in the legislative proposals here.
The U.S. military has accepted six new F-35 fighters without radars installed—but none so far for the Air Force. Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Gregory Masiello, the head of the F-35 Joint Program Office, told lawmakers June 23 that the Marines have to date accepted six short takeoff and vertical landing…