The Air Force has created the Individual Reservist Readiness and Integration Organization, based at Buckley AFB, Colo., to smooth the transition from the Individual Ready Reserve into Active Duty units. The Air Reserve Personnel Center announced the standup of the headquarters on Feb. 4 as a means to meet Air Force and combatant commanders’ requirements, according to a release. The RIO will take over much of the workload from the Readiness Management Group, based at Robins AFB, Ga. “This transition is part of the Air Force Reserve Human Capital Transformation initiative,” states the Buckley release. Officials will use a phased approach to transition all of the personnel workloads with an estimated completion date of Sept. 30. “These phases will include finance, personnel, medical management, and others, after which time RMG will be deactivated,” states the release. The first of many records were transferred on Jan. 12.
The Air Force on March 12 awarded contract modifications worth a combined $2.4 billion to Boeing to procure an undisclosed number of E-7 Wedgetail as part of the program's engineering and manufacturing development phase and continue work on the airborne battle management aircraft’s radar.