Air Force Reserve Command plans to link early officer promotions—better known as position-vacancy promotions—to the quotas for mandatory promotion boards. The PV promotions now will have quotas matched to the mandatory board quotas. AFRC officials said to calculate the number of available PV promotions, they will factor 20 percent and 30 percent, respectively, of the lieutenant colonel and major mandatory promotions. First up will be the February promotion board for majors. Under the new system, say officials, AFRC can predict the number of future PV promotions. The old method led to an overabundance of nominees; the number grew by 70 percent just in the last five years. Col. Shaun Kelleher, directorate chief for force management policy, said the change will mean that commanders “only forward their truly best qualified officers.”
Boeing received a $2.47 billion Air Force contract Nov. 25 for 15 more KC-46s, bringing to 183 the number of Pegasus tankers on contract to all customers, foreign and domestic. The new contract—for Lot 12 of the initially planned KC-46 buy—is to be completed by 2029.
