For the past four years, the Air Force has paid command responsibility pay to officers in selected command billets but will now stop the practice as one more cost-saving measure. The service has had the authority to pay CRP for some 50 years, but officials only instituted the practice in 2002. Now, they say the service needs those dollars for recapitalization. An official statement says that the service’s “budget priorities have changed dramatically” since 2002. Most commanders will see an end to CRP on Sept. 30, 2007, while others, including those rotating between command assignments will not receive CRP, effective Jan. 1.
A top Pentagon tech official called on industry this week to help the military develop “lighter, more efficient” directed energy weapons designed to go on aircraft and conduct special operations missions or down drones—areas where the Air Force’s directed energy efforts have been quiet as of late.