Air Force plan to cut jobs could affect Kirtland labs.(Local News)

Byline: Lawrence Spohn TRIBUNE REPORTER

Two Air Force Research Laboratory divisions in Albuquerque are bracing for possible job cuts this fall as the Air Force prepares to slash its long-treasured research budget.

"The chances are, we won't get hit as hard, but I don't know and won't know until they actually release the numbers," Rich Garcia, spokesman for the Air Force Research Laboratory's Directed Energy Directorate at Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque, said today.

Garcia said, however, that reports the Air Force wants to beef up its space laser and radar research could protect jobs in those areas at Kirtland, or possibly even add workers here.

The Air Force Research Laboratory, or AFRL, makes it headquarters at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio, which could take the brunt of the cut. AFRL includes the Space Vehicles Directorate based at Kirtland. Other divisions of the lab are in New York, Massachusetts and Texas.

Both Kirtland-based directorates are key components of AFRL, which was consolidated several years ago into a single unit with headquarters at Wright-Patterson, which commands the specialized labs around the country.

Reductions in …