ARLINGTON, Va. — Continuing with plans to downsize the Air Force despite the ongoing wars, the service plans to shave 5,400 officers and enlisted members from the rolls in fiscal 2008, officials announced Wednesday.

But unlike past years, when thousands of airmen were tapped for involuntary separation, in fiscal 2008, no enlisted members, and just 645 officers will have to be cut using “force-shaping measures” – programs that prompt airmen to leave on their own accord; or a “force shaping board” that selects them to depart involuntarily, Air Force Col. Chuck Armentrout, chief of the Air Force’s military force management policy division, told Stripes in a telephone interview about the 2008 plan.

Instead, the majority of the 2008 reductions will come from retirements and attrition, Armentrout said.

The reductions will bring the Air Force’s size from 334,200 to 328,600 airmen.

The Air Force has been shrinking since 2005, when officials said they intended to reduce the force to 316,000 airmen by the end of fiscal 2009 to pay for replacing an aging fleet of aircraft.

Air Force officials will start the 2008 force-shaping by offering voluntary separation pay to approximately 200 officers who have 12 to 15 years in service and who serve in fields with a surplus of midcareer officers, Armentrout said.

The officers who take the offer will get a lump sum payment equal to three times the standard involuntary separation pay. That amount is determined by the following formula: monthly base pay times 10 percent times 12 times number of years of service.

Eligible officers will be able to submit applications for voluntary separation pay from Sept. 5 to March 31, 2008, or until the Air Force meets its reduction goal, Armentrout said.

Meanwhile, officers with a minimum of 20 years active service and at least eight years of commissioned service will be offered the chance to apply for retirement.

And eligible colonels and lieutenant colonels may apply for a waiver to retire with just two years time-in-grade, instead of three. But retirement dates must be no later than Sept. 1, 2008, Armentrout said.

The involuntary portion of the program will be a force-shaping board held in March 2008 that targets about 130 officers in the 2005 year group.

This will be the third year in a row the Air Force is holding force-shaping board affecting lieutenants. The fiscal 2006 board resulted in 822 young officers being cut, while the fiscal 2007 board cut 279 lieutenants.

In addition to lieutenants who are in career fields that are either short or balanced, young officers from two particular fields are exempt from the board: 14N, or intelligence; and 32E, or civil engineers.

“The operational requirements [for those fields] right now are particularly strong, so we made particular allowances for that,” Armentrout said.

Although the cuts are smaller than last year, “it’s very hard to lose high-quality people,” particularly because “the people that we’re losing right now have been with us during a tough period,” Armentrout said.

But Air Force leaders have no choice, he said: “We are working toward a congressionally mandated end-strength, and shaping our force correctly so that in the long run, we can recapitalize and reduce risk and accomplish the mission that the nation has given us.”