The Air Force will extend voluntary separation programs for enlisted airmen, such as date-of-separation rollbacks, as it continues to manage its force structure to meet its Congressionally mandated active duty end strength, announced service officials. USAF also will extend waivers for active duty service commitments, time-in-grade, and enlistment contracts, they said in a release. The Air Force will introduce two new force management programs in Fiscal 2013: adjusted high year tenure limits and career job reservation constraints. USAF will reduce HYT limits for roughly 1,700 senior airmen, staff sergeants, and technical sergeants, while CJR constraints will “limit the number of first-term airmen who can re-enlist based on Air Force specialty code career job requirements,” states the release.Voluntary and involuntary measures also will continue for the officer corps, including one involuntary force-shaping board for probationary officers—those with less than six years of total federal commissioned service in certain AFSCs to be announced later. “There are currently no plans for voluntary separation pay, a reduction-in-force board, or selective early retirement boards [for officers] for Fiscal 2013,” states the release. At the end of Fiscal 2011, the Air Force was still about 1,200 airmen over its 332,800 authorized end strength.
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.
