Air Force Reserve Command has declared up front that the just-signed 2008 defense appropriations bill will only fund an end strength of 67,500 Reservists. What the AFRC release doesn’t say is that’s the number that the Administration requested in its 2008 budget submission. AFRC decided early on that it would participate in the Air Force’s personnel drawdown to help fund modernization efforts. The Air National Guard, so far, has said no to cutting airmen; instead it’s looking elsewhere for savings. The active Air Force is still working toward a total drawdown of some 40,000 full-time equivalents, taking the last 17,000 or so over 2008 and 2009. AFRC plans to cut around 7,400 to get down to the 67,500 mark.
Lt. Gen. Dan Caine, nominee to be chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the Senate Armed Services Committee that the Defense Department needs to upgrade its electronic warfare capability and its EW training ranges; just as his predecessor said at his own confirmation hearing.