Some of Air Force Reserve Command’s lieutenant colonels and colonels can now retire after spending two years time-in-grade, rather than the customary three years. As part of its force shaping efforts, the Air Force has reduced the time-in-grade requirement from three years to two for no more than two percent of a grade’s authorized end strength each year. That means a maximum of 126 lieutenant colonels and 30 colonels are eligible to retire in 2007.
RTX’s Raytheon unit was able to “significantly” extend the range of the AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile using mostly software changes in experimental tests last year, expanding the reach and lethality of the standard U.S. dogfighting weapon, company officials said Sept. 15.
